Petroleum haulage tanker drivers in the Republic of Ghana on Tuesday declared a nationwide strike action in protest of the refusal of some stakeholders to approve a condition of service document for drivers and their mates.
The drivers are accusing the Board of NPA, the regulator of the petroleum downstream, and the Association of Oil Marketing Companies (AOMC), of refusing to sign the document which had received approval by majority members of a committee that was constituted to draft conditions of service framework for drivers and their mates.
The composition of the committee was facilitated by the NPA and is chaired by the Deputy CEO of NPA, Curtis Perry Okudzeto.
The poor conditions of tanker drivers and their mates have been an issue that has lingered on for several years.
As a result of poor working conditions, some drivers in the past used to siphon fuel in the course of their journeys to discharge fuel to service stations.
However, the introduction of trackers on the trucks and setting up of an electronic cargo tracking system that allows NPA to monitor fuel tankers from the point of loading to the destination has stopped the fuel siphoning.
With drafting of the condition of services framework, the drivers and their mates had high hopes that their years of misery was going to end.
Sadly, that appears to have been quashed for now.
In a petition to President Akufo-Addo dated May 7, 2024, the National Executives of Ghana National Tanker Drivers Union (GNTDU), the drivers narrated the genesis of the conditions of service framework drawing the attention of the President that he directed the then Minister Boakye Agyarko and former CEO NPA Hassan Tampuli in August 2017 to ensure that their grievances were addressed.
They said when Boakye Agyarko exited the Ministry and John Peter Amewu was appointed, he (Amewu) called for emergency meeting where a proposal was tabled to segregate drivers and mates margins allocated to transporters within the Unified Petroleum Price Fund (UPPF).
This directive, according to the drivers, was not followed through.
They said following a series of threats in 2023, the NPA constituted a committee comprising representatives from the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Employment and Labour, Association of Oil Marketing Companies (AOMC), National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST), General Transport Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union (GTPCWU), Tanker Owners Union (TOU), and Ghana National Petroleum Tanker Drivers Union (GNPTDU).
They said the committee worked for six months and drafted a conditions of service framework that was unanimously accepted by all the representatives and the document was to be implemented in November 2023.
The drivers expressed shock that the new board of AOMC had kicked against the conditions of service framework with the claim that their representative was not authorised to endorse the document the multiple stakeholders agreed to its implementation, a position that the driver described as untenable.
The drivers urged President Akufo-Addo to step in to resolve the issue.
Speaking, George Nyaunu, the National Chairman of GNPTDU, said they issued two weeks ultimatum to the NPA to resolve the issue but the authority didn’t respond.
He continued that their petition to the President had not yet been responded to, adding “it appears nobody wants to address our conditions of service issue so we have laid down our tools.
“We are not going to work,” he added.
When contacted, Communications Manager for NPA Kudus Mohammed said payment of salaries to workers is the sole responsibility of employers.
“It is not our mandate to determine salaries for drivers. It is the duty of employer,” he explained.
He said the CEO of NPA, out of good heart he had for the drivers because of their poor working conditions, facilitated the composition of the committee to look into the grievances of the drivers.
He said there was some disagreement on some of the things that had already been agreed, stating that some of the stakeholders wanted some of the proposals in the document reviewed.
He rejected the claim by the drivers that the NPA had refused to sign the document.
He wondered why the drivers are saying that NPA had refused to sign the document when it would not have any effect on the regulator.
“The allegation against NPA is wild. This is not something that is going to be charged on NPA, so why would the Board refuse to sign,” he quizzed.
The new CEO of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies Dr. Riverson Oppong was not available when reached via telephone.
Checks at the TOR and BOST depots in Accra and Kumasi showed that the drivers had packed their trucks and congregate themselves and discussing their poor working conditions.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com