Workers forced to swear not to reveal outcome of secret meeting

..AS HR department faces compulsory redundancy

By Solomon Davids

It appears the hatchet of compulsory redundancy at Vodafone would not rest any time soon as it looks for more victims to satisfy management's comfort and, as it is put, to make the company profitable, with the use occultic practices to entice workers.

The Daily Democrat has credible information indicating that Vodafone is now using new strategies to select a great number of workers in the Human Resource Department for mass compulsory redundancy. These include forcing workers to engage in juju-like swearing to stop them from revealing any secret about meetings to the public, especially the media.

The information has it that last Friday August 7, 2009, all staff members of the Human Resource Department of Vodafone, at least across Accra, were summoned to a meeting with management during which they were forced to take a test designed to determine who qualifies to stay on or to be shown the exit. The staff members of the department were also made to swear not to disclose that they took a test.

Leadership of the Local Union Chairman of Vodafone confirmed that they had a hint of the meeting and its purpose warned workers in the HR department not to take any test. "We were told that the staff members of the HR department were being compelled to take some online assessment and they were given a deadline to complete and submit the test or count themselves automatically redundant," they said.

They said they were monitoring events in the company but could not confirm the number of workers involved or the way the test was conducted but would oppose anything that would not be in the interest of the workers and against laid down procedures and rules.

Other staff members outside of the HR Department confirmed the incident, as they realized that the offices of department were empty on the said date.

The management of Vodafone Ghana last week unilaterally announced a compulsory redundancy plan, under which some 950 workers are targeted to leave the telecom giant by November 2009.

Already, 942 had gone on voluntary redundancy, which formed part of a comprehensive business transformation programme at Vodafone Ghana. The transformation programme may also see some non-core units of Vodafone Ghana completely scrapped.

Management stopped short of mentioning which departments were to be scrapped but said the restructuring was ultimately intended to make Vodafone productive and profitable in two years. Due to the recent move on the HR department, members of staff are suspecting that management had targeted some workers of the section for mass retrenchment.

But the Ghana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), the Communications Workers Union (CWU) and the unionised workers of Vodafone had criticised the compulsory redundancy move as autocratic on the part of management and a violation of the labour laws of the country.

Management was accused of setting aside a mutual agreement between it and the leadership of the local union at a Standing Joint Negotiating Committee (SJNC), which enjoined management to have first submitted the redundancy programme to union for review before public announcement. The CWU therefore called on management to suspend the redundancy programme and return to the key decisions of the SJNC or "we will advise ourselves."

The latest move on the HR department seems to be an indication that management has no intentions of heeding the call of the CWU.