Commuters stranded as Metro Mass workers ground buses
Hundreds of passengers of the Metro Mass Transit (MMT) Limited were stranded yesterday following a strike by workers of the company.
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While the stranded passengers waited in long queues for buses to their various destinations across the country, the aggrieved workers besieged the head office of the MMT in Accra.
As early as 8 a.m., the striking workers, including drivers, conductors, ticket clerks, terminal point officers and mechanics, wearing MMT branded T-shirts and red armbands, demanded the removal of the board chairman and the deputy managing director of the company before they would resume work.
While some of the workers chanted songs composed with the names of the Minister for Transport, Ms Dzifa Attivor, and the Board Chairman of the MMT, Osabarima Ansah Sasraku III, others manned the main entrance of the company to ensure that no top management member left the premises while the workers’ demands had not been addressed.
12 missing buses
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the MMT Junior Staff Divisional Union Chairman, Mr Joseph Kwesi Ahinkora, explained that the strike was in protest against the disappearance of the company’s vehicles and other challenges the MMT was currently experiencing.
Late last year, some 12 buses belonging to the MMT were reported missing under mysterious circumstances in Kumasi, Tamale and Wa.
However, he said, information available indicated that three of the stolen vehicles had been retrieved from workshops in Kumasi and Mamponteng, both in the Ashanti Region.
The MMT Senior Staff Divisional Union Secretary, Mr James Arthur, explained that there were guidelines for disposing of buses declared unserviceable and scrap.
Per the MMT’s regulations, such vehicles were auctioned and dismantled before they were evacuated by the buyer.
One of the drivers, Kojo Koranteng, told the Daily Graphic that a significant number of MMT buses had been grounded due to the company’s inability to service them.
"The company is unable to buy spare parts to put the vehicles on the road. Many of them have broken down and so we come to work and sit, with nothing to do," he said.
Additionally, he said, drivers and conductors were paid as low as GH¢200 each month.
Minister’s appeal
To address the concerns of the workers, Ms Attivor held a closed-door meeting with the leaders of the workers, the management and the board of the company for close to three hours.
At the end of the meeting, the workers presented a petition to the minister, the contents of which were not disclosed.
She appealed to the workers to give her 16 working days to resolve the issues raised.
That drew boos from the workers, while the union leaders tried to calm the agitating workers.
She hinted that the call to have the board chairman and the deputy managing director removed was beyond her.
The minister directed the committee set up to look into the allegation of missing buses to submit its report to the board of the MMT on Wednesday.
Subsequently, she asked the board to convene a meeting and urged the workers to resume work with immediate effect.
‘Accused must step aside’
The General Secretary of the General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Mr Fuseini Iddrisu, said, “We know the only language politicians understand is demonstration. We will surprise the minister if the issues we have raised are not addressed.”
He requested that the accused persons being investigated be made to step aside, “since the issues being investigated are criminal”.
Industrial actions in the regions
Similar industrial actions took place in the regions.
From Cape Coast, Shirley Asiedu-Addo reports that the Manager of the MMT Central Regional terminal, Nana Asare Tandoh, said the terminal made about GH¢30,000 a day and so by implication the half-day strike would cost the company about GH¢15,000.
“The impact on the company will be serious if the situation is to continue. We are happy that the minister stepped in quickly to resolve the situation,” he stated.
He said with the reopening of second-cycle institutions in the metropolis yesterday, many students travelling from Accra and Kumasi to Cape Coast could not make it due to the strike by the workers.
“Our customer-care service is now working on many radio stations to get the public to know we are now working,” he added.
George Folley reports from Koforidua that the Eastern Regional Manager of the MMT, Mr Joseph Addo, expressed optimisim that the workers would call off their strike, since the company was losing more revenue.
He appealed to the striking workers to exercise enough restraint and wait on the management of the company for the resolution of the impasse.
Benjamin Xornam Glover reports from Tema that patrons of MMT services were left stranded on the premises of the company, with many being compelled to resort to other transport services, which are relatively costly.
The Tema depot of the MMT plies various routes, including Tema to Aflao, Tarkwa, Ashaiman, Ada, Bimbilla, Akuse, Anum and Boso, among other destinations.
When the Daily Graphic visited the MMT terminal at Tema Community One, the drivers and other workers had withdrawn their services and grounded the vehicles, leaving commuters to contemplate on alternate travel arrangements.