Ghanaian workers in the oil industry want government to create policies that protect them from layoffs

February 11, 2020 5:30 PM

The General, Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union of the Trades Union Congress has called on the Ghanaian government to develop policies that will protect them from layoffs when production companies face operational challenges.

Oil Rig in Ghana

This request is coming after Tullow Oil Ghana decided to layoff at least 25% of its workers due to the Tullow Oil Plc’s massive disappointments in operations in Africa and South America.

The Deputy General Secretary of the General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union, Francis Sallah, told Accra-based Citi FM that Ghanaians must enjoy some privileges in such circumstances.

“It bores down to the adequate implementation of the government policy that is lacking because from where I sit now, I don’t think that we have the caliber of people in charge of key operations in the oil and gas sector. No multinational company should work elsewhere and their negative effects be pushed unto us Ghanaians. So, in reality, it is the implementation of our policies. That is the problem.”

“We have the fine laws, but, how do we make sure it works? They will not be able to push it back to us if we have the right people in place and are in charge of certain operations. I think the local content policy has to be taken a second look at for it to work properly,” he added.

Reports suggest that the ongoing global redundancy will see the exit of 35% of Tullow Ghana’s senior leadership, and overall 25% job losses for staff made up of both Ghanaians and expatriates.

The redundancy programme will be done in three batches with the first group of workers will leave the company by March, the second batch will depart by June, and the last in December 2020.