The local union of the Tema Shipyard Limited of the National Union of Seamen, Ports and Allied Workers (NUSPAW) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has commended Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, Minister for Transport, for his moves to revive the yard.
During a certain period when the shipyard had been without vessels for about four months, the Union said Mr. Asiamah single-handedly secured vessels for repairs to keep it moving.
In a statement authored by Samuel Attram, Chairman of the Junior Staff Union (JSU) of NUSPAW, in defence of the Minister’s efforts to heal the ailing shipyard, he explained: “The Union, with the management, has gone through all the processes outlined in the Labour Act (Act 651 2003), and I wish to state that all relevant procedures were followed before management arrived at the final decision to carry out the ongoing Labour Restructuring Exercise.”
He said it was unfair for anybody to blame the sector Minister for the downward trend of PSC Tema Shipyard, explaining that started in 2010 when the Government of Ghana, through the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), bought the shares of the Malaysians.
He explained that the government, in 2016, handed over the management of the shipyard to the GPHA to look for a strategic investor to bring the yard to international standards.
“Since then, the workers of Tema Shipyard have been calling for a strategic investor to revamp the ailing shipyard since the departure of the Malaysians. The Government of Ghana, since 2010, has tried to satisfy the expectations of the workers, but to no avail.
“In addition to securing vessels for the shipyard to repair to enable us to raise revenue, the sector Minister, Honorable Asiamah, in the face of our difficulties, ensured that the shipyard workers were paid from the government’s resources for a month, and as workers, we are most grateful to him.
“The ailing shipyard has gone through a lot of new developments since the Minister’s visit in 2017, hence, the need for a new approach to resolve the new developments. The Honorable Minister is up to the task to bring the shipyard to an internationally competitive level, and the majority of workers in Tema Shipyard are in support of the Restructuring Exercise currently underway,” Samuel Attram said.
He explained further that without capital injection, as well as modern technology, it would be extremely difficult for the shipyard to survive the competition in the industry in the sub-region.
Given the yard’s potential of tripling its current labour strength, Mr. Attram strongly held the position that the current restructuring exercise and private capital injection were needed to revive the PSC Tema Shipyard Limited.
“The vision of the sector Minister and the CEO, Dr Alexander Adusei Jr. is to operate the shipyard in a similar model in countries like Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal and Equatorial Guinea, to triple the current labour force when the yard is operating efficiently with Private Capital Injection,” he concluded.
