Over 100 Workers of the waste management company, Zoomlion Ghana, in the West Akim Municipality of the Eastern Region have vowed to lay down their tools ending of June if their nine months allowances are not paid.
According to the aggrieved workers, leaders of the waste management company in headquarters have failed to communicate with them for the reasons for the unpaid allowances.
Ghana’s national daily minimum wage increased by 11% to 11.82 cedis (the U.S. $2.16) for 2020, up from 10.65 cedis (the U.S. $1.94) for 2019, but Sanitation workers of Zoomlion receive ¢180.00 monthly.
Some of the workers who spoke on condition of anonymity with Kofi Atakora, mybrytfmonline.com reporter said they were receiving ¢100 until 2018 before it was increased slightly but payment is not coming for the past nine months.
One woman who was engaged eight years ago said”I have been working so many years and sometimes they owe us but it has never been nine months, recent once was 3 to 4 months, we are tired and feed up, when we went to our District Coordinator, Brother Charles, he said he is not getting any information from the regional and national office.
“We are urging the government to intervene and retrieve our arrears for us,” she said.
The Eastern Regional Manager of Zoomlion, Mr. George Aguadze, in a telephone interview said the arrears owe workers is a National issue and said they are in touch to pay all.
The government was intending to review the contract of Zoomlion following anomalies identified with the execution of its obligations.
In 2018, the government attempted to terminate the Zoomlion contract over what it considers as impropriate that employees were being paid Ghc 100 a month while the company kept Ghc 400 from the total of Ghc 500 received from Government.
But in June 2019, the government of Ghana extended its street sweeping contract with a waste management company, Zoomlion.
As a result, the government continues to pay the 38, 000 sweepers under the Sanitation Model of the Youth Employment Agency monthly.
Zoomlion Ghana started its Eastern Regional operations in 2006 with eight-core staff. Today, however, the company works for all the 26 municipal and district assemblies and has 198 core staff and 5,501 project staff.
The region currently offers janitorial services, door-to-door waste collection service, cesspit services, sale and rental of mobile cabins, Water tanker services, landscaping and beautification, and waste evacuation services.
Zoomlion Ghana Limited, a wholly-owned Ghanaian company was established in 2006 and provides waste management and cleaning services to both public and private entities.
Currently, Zoomlion operates in Togo, Liberia, Zambia, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, among others.
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Kofi Atakora
