The Tema District Council of labour of the Maritime and Dock Workers Union (MDU) of the Ghana Trades Union Congress, has appealed to government to abolish tax on overtime duties.

In a resolution signed by Mr. Ebenezer Kodwo Taylor, Secretary of the Council in Accra at the weekend, the Union said although working overtime according to the labour law was not compulsory, workers accepted to do so in the interest of the nation.

In the case of the MDU, the resolution said, they worked overtime in order to keep the operations at the ports running for 24 hours non-stop.

The resolution said maritime was a very important strategic sector for the achievement of Ghana’s overall development goal and the workers had been over-burdened with huge taxes. “We have to fight it,” he said.

“The MDU Tema District Council of Labour wishes to hear favourably from the Government within 21 days counting from Wednesday, September 24, 2012”.

It added, “We reserve the right to withdraw our labour and services for overtime should our demand not be met”.

In another letter to the headquarters of the Union, the MDU complained about the poor wages and salaries, and companies operating without salary structure resulting to inequity and unfairness in remunerations.

The Council said others were having outdated salary structures resulting in low salaries and wages even to the extent that some were paying far below the minimum wage.

The Council, therefore, called on the national secretariat to take steps to address the numerous problems facing maritime workers including the salary structure in order to reflect economic realities.