The National Labour Commission (NLC) may be compelled to close down its office in the Sekondi Takoradi Metropolis if the government does not provide a new office for the Commission in that part of the country, the Executive Secretary,Samuel Ofosu Asamoah, has said.
He said the weak structure being used as its office in Takoradi has become a deathtrap to workers, a situation he said, must be averted by shutting down.
Mr Asamoah revealed that the staff have stopped going to work due to the threats the building pose on their lives.
He told Winston Amoah, host of Sunrise morning show on 3FM Tuesday that he has personally written a letter to the Western Regional Minister informing him about the development.
No response has come from him, he said.
“We operate from Accra and it was recently we moved to Kumasi. We have another office in Takoradi which was given to us by the Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly, in a very old dilapidated structure, and as I talk to you now, the staff hardly go to the office because the ceiling is falling, the roof is falling on them.
“Sometimes you will be there and some concrete slap will drop on your table,” he said
He added: “I have written a letter to the regional minister last week that if we are not given any assistance we may be compelled to close the office.
He recounted how the principal industrial relations officer narrowly escaped a serious threat, stating immediately he finished her lunch and rose from his seat “a concrete slap fell on her seat”
Mr Asamoah indicated “it could have hit her head if she was sitting there”
“We can’t expose our staff to that risk so I have written to the minister that we may be compelled to close down the office if we don’t get any assistance,” he said
He said that the Commission has identified a new building which could serve as their new office in Takoradi but noted they do not have the funds to rent.
“We have located a place. The landlord is ready to take 36,000 cedis. Unfortunately, we don’t have a budget for now,” he said.
By Abdul-Razak Mounkaila|3news.com|Ghana