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Ghanaian workers protest alleged mistreatment

Ghanaian workers at a foreign-owned company in the Eastern Region have spoken out about alleged abuses at the hands of their Turkish bosses. The bosses have denied the allegations.

 

A Turkish company operating in Ghana has denied allegations it is mistreating its Ghanaian workers, calling the accusations rumours.

Ghanaians in the Eastern Region working for Turkish ARDA Group Company have spoken out about alleged abuses at the hands of their Turkish bosses, however, the company says there's no truth to it.

Citi FM reported workers in Akim Oda protested demeaning actions, physical assaults, working odd hours and unstable salaries from their bosses.

The workers told Citi FM one of the managers regularly assaulted the workers, stating a colleague was beaten on the weekend after he was accused of liaising with outsiders to steal from the company because he placed a machine where it wasn’t supposed to be.

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The company has been operating in the Oda area for the past three years undertaking water projects and related infrastructural works at Akim Oda, Winneba and Cape Coast, after winning a Government contract.

Pulse Ghana contacted ARDA, and an emailed response that came from the company said “there is no such a thing like that”.

The response appeared to be from one of the Turkish bosses on the ground here in Ghana.

The response said the employees cause “hurt and damage to our machines to block the work process”.

The respondent said an excavator operator drove the excavator into a quagmire twice in two days, costing the company a lot of money.

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“When I shouted to him in anger when he was on one machine, that he operates, he was afraid and fell down on the ground from the machine and get injured,” the respondent wrote.

“Then after, to take the money from me, his family begun to threaten me and started to make rumors like this.”

He said the company covered the cost of sending the person to hospital who has since recovered.

The respondent said the project, to provide clean drinking water, will be completed on May 1.

This is not the first time local workers have outlined unfair treatment or abuses from foreign bosses, a Korean boss in Accra was charged with assault by police for slapping his Ghanaian employee with a hot slice of pizza.

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Mr. Young Gyu Lee, Chief Executive Office of Peterpan Restaurant, a Korean chain in Ghana, allegedly used hot pizza to slapped of of his employees, a Cecilia Ampadu.

A former employee of the now closed Bread and Wine restaurant in Osu also alleged the foreign owners withheld staff salaries, did not pay on time, sometimes three weeks late.

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