Melcom sacks grieving workers

Source: TodayGh / 10.11.2012

Today can report that there is simmering tension between workers and managers of Melcom Group Limited.

This, the paper has learnt, follows the decision by Melcom branches supervisors and managers to send home workers of the company who wore red and black apparel in grief of their colleague-workers who died and others who suffered varied degrees of injuries during the collapse of the Achimota Melcom Shopping Complex which tragedy occurred last Wednesday.


In a follow-up to a story by Okay FM, an Accra-based radio station, on the issue last Thursday, November 8, 2012, Today can confirm that this current development is not limited to workers of the company in the capital city, but all Melcom branches across the country.


The branches include, North Industrial Area, Accra Central, Tema, Ashaiman, Takoradi, Kumasi, Tamale, Hohoe, Ho and Koforidua.


Some of the workers at the Circle North Industrial Area and Accra Central Business District branches of Melcom who spoke to Today on condition of anonymity complained bitterly that they find it difficult to understand why their supervisors and managers will ask them to go home and change their dress, since according to them, they were mourning the death of their colleagues which is customary for every Ghana who loses a relative or a friend to do.


Today gathered that the managers and supervisors, according to the lamenting workers, even went as far as threatening to write in their appointment letters that their services would not be needed if they fail to rescind their decision to go home and change their mourning dresses.


According to the workers, when they inquired from their superiors why they were not allowed to wear the red and black dress to mourn the death of their colleagues, they were told in plain language that that was a “decision coming from above.”


The workers also elicited complaints about the activities of the supervisors siding with the owners of the company for what they describe as “continuous intimidation and harassment” meted out to them at the workplace on a daily basis.


According to them, the kinds of treatment meted out to them by managers are so severe to the extent that they live in fear.

“Our monthly salary is also nothing better to write home about, and this is because they always say that they are helping us because there no jobs in the country,” the workers complained.


To this end, they called on the government and other state agencies to intervene in the matter to avoid what they describe as “chaotic scenes.”                   Picture below: MELCOM tragedy the night after the fall