Professional and Managerial Staff Union and Local Union of Produce Buying Company Limited have expressed their heartfelt concerns over the welfare of industrial and commercial workers unions and the challenges facing them.
The current challenges of the company have negatively affected the workers denying them of some benefits and entitlement under the collective agreement which should have been paid to workers.
However, the workers through PBC through the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union requested for government’s support in 2019 to manage the debt of the company in order to access credit from banks but rather the government gave PBC letters to enable it access seed funds from COCOBOD.
Unfortunately, the seed funds were allocated several weeks after the season opened which was inadequate and it led to the decline in the purchase of PBC high fixed costs and decline in revenue due to the low purchase, the company’s performance worsened.
The low level of performance of the company has affected the workers and they include
1.No salary increment for the past eight years.
2.Non payments of salary for 11 months and more.
3. Unpaid deductions from salaries for provident fund contributions
4. Non payment of inconvenience allowance to staff transfer.
5. Unpaid medical bills and the inability of workers to receive treatment from Cocoa clinic before the company settles the bill later as it used to be the case.
6. Unpaid benefits and exit packages to staff who are on retirement, have resigned or have their appointments terminated as the case may be.
Despite the government support of saving the company from eminent collapse a lot of support is required to keep the company in business and for that matter the government should assist to support PBC with a bailout through
1.Pay salaries of workers
2. Reorganize the and reposition the business.
3. Obtain working capital for it’s operation and ring fence it’s debt to enable it access credit.
