Takoradi, July 21, GNA- Eighty-six former workers of the Ghana Telecom (GT) in Takoradi who were laid-off in August 2002, have petitioned the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) for "wrongful dismissal and injustices" meted out to them.

They said their demand for salary increase, the basis for which they were dismissed, was justified because at the time that they were dismissed some of them have worked for more than six years without any salary increase.

The former workers appealed to CHRAJ and SFO to, as a matter of urgency, look into the mater and other grievances they have with the Ghana Telecom management to ensure justice and fairness.

In their petition they mentioned the failure of management to pay them overtime allowances even though they were sometimes forced to work on Saturdays and public holidays. The workers said when they were dismissed in 2002 after they had petitioned the Western Regional Minister over the issue and as a result a committee was formed.

Later they were told that the management of GT was prepared to pay whatever was due them but that promise had not been fulfilled. In the petition to the SFO the former workers complained that even though contributions to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) were deducted as soon as they were engaged between 1996 and 1997 it was only in 1999 that they were actually registered with the SSNIT.