TO SATISFY MANAGEMENT'S COMFORT

When some workers of Ghana Telecom, now Vodafone, went on a demonstration last year to support the 70% share take-over by Vodafone Plc, little did they know that they were helping in digging their own grave.

Less than a year after taking over the ownership of the only state-own communication network, Vodafone Ghana, finding the number of workers too high to give way for the comfort of its top management, has through high-handed compulsory means succeeded in sending home 1,900 workers.

Initially, 864 workers were disposed of under a voluntary package of three-month salary for each year of service in the company. An additional 78 workers also found their way out through the same package.

However, having failed to convince more workers to follow suite, Vodafone is now applying rough tactics to forcefully retire more members of staff under a compulsory redundancy scheme. Some staff have been targeted and barring any last minute intervention, more workers would exit Vodafone in next few months. The objective of this action is to cut down the workforce in order to satisfy top management staff whose monthly allowances and salaries are high; information gathered has it that top management members are living on huge salaries and allowance. Vodafone, which made a firm promise that it was not going to sack any worker prior its controversial purchase of Ghana Telecom, is now using all sorts of methods to trim down the workforce, raising concerns among workers, who feel they have been deceived by management of the company.

During some briefings at the height of opposition to the take-over, some management members of Vodafone met with employees of the then Ghana Telecom and promised never to sack any worker when they take over. It was even alleged that some of them were bribed to embark on a public demonstration of their approval and acceptance of the deal.

Workers are not too enthused about the large-scale redundancy because, as some of them put it, they supported the Vodafone takeover of GT whole heartedly, not knowing that they were about to close some units and lay workers off in such huge chunks.

Meanwhile, Unionized workers have vehemently rejected the compulsory redundancy programme, targeted at 950 workers.

According to Mr. Emmanuel Darkwa, Chairman of the local Communication Workers Union (CWU) of Vodafone, the manner in which management was rolling out the redundancy programme was ‘autocratic’.

He noted, for instance, that union requested that all workers with salary levels 12 to six, covered under the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), should be exempted from the compulsory exit, but management had resorted to the use of threat, insults and other cunning means to cajole some workers out of employment.

“They for instance, tell people to opt for redundancy because of their age even though most of the people they are compelling to leave have not reached the legal retirement age of 60 years,” he said.

Mr. Isaac Abraham, Chief Manager, Corporate Communications of Vodafone, on Friday held a press conference and announced that 950 workers would be expected to exit Vodafone compulsorily between now and November 2009.

He announced that affected workers would be given similar packages like some 942 workers who exited voluntarily.

If that compulsory redundancy move succeeds, 1,842 out of 4,000 workers would have been laid off since Vodafone took over the operations of Ghana Telecom (GT) last year. Vodafone workers were earlier this year offered a voluntary retirement package under which workers would go home with three months’ salary per each year served with the company. About 900 took the option.