GCNet acting in bad faith – Redundant workers insist on severance package

Over 147 redundant workers of the Ghana Community Network Services Limited (GCNet) have asked management to pay their severance package based on its employee manual.

The Staff Welfare Association of GCNet believes management “want to frustrate staff who have been dedicated over the years” by dragging its feet in settling the payments.

Accusing the management of “bad faith”, the association said management had shelved a roadmap after Arbitration and a court ruling favouring the workers.

GCNet is an information technology firm that designed and deployed Ghana’s Single Window Platform for processing trade transactions for Customs clearance.

Concerns of the workers

In a release to set the records straight, the association questioned management’s decision to scrap an existing Human Resources Policy Manual which outlines payment modalities.

They said the HRPM is the most critical document about the condition of service, which has been consistently upheld and applied religiously throughout the existence of GCNet in all manner of situations, including hiring, firing, leave, training, remuneration, disciplinary issues.

Additionally, the association maintained that no anomalies should hinder the payments “as has been upheld by the Arbitration Award and the High Court ruling”.

“SGS /GCNet refused to pay after the matter was determined by Arbitration and are still refusing to respect the High Court ruling after dismissing their application to set aside the Arbitration Award,” the aggrieved group insisted.

The affected staff said they were “unwavering in their resolve to uphold what is rightfully due them and remain unfazed by the actions of SGS/ GCNet”.

“We believe in the institutions of the state to administer justice in a fair and just manner”.

Why were workers laid off?

On June 1, 2020, a notice of redundancy letter to about 147 staff of GCNet was issued due to the Government’s termination of GCNet’s TradeNet and Transit Service contract on May 31, 2020.

GCNet had a contract with the government for trade facilitation services at the ports.

The contract was due to end in 2023, but in early April 2020, the government notified GCNet of termination, upon which it asked the firm to demobilise by April 28, 2020.

This was necessitated by the transfer of responsibilities for the single window project at Ghana’s ports, managed by West Blue Consulting and GCNet to UNIPASS/Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS).

But the affected workers were not offered any compensation.

Efforts to have severance package settled

Following a deadlock in discussions, the matter was jointly referred to the National Labour Commission (NLC) on August 11, 2020, by the parties involved, which ended in Arbitration for resolution.

A three-member arbitration panel appointed by the NLC subsequently ruled on September 4, 2020.

It said that all the workers affected by the company’s ongoing redundancy exercise be paid per provisions made in the firm’s Human Resources Policy Manual (HRPM), signed between the GCNet management and the GCNet Staff Welfare Association in 2018.

The NLC asked GCNet to respect the manual without any variation or adjustment and also ordered that the effective date of redundancy was August 31, 2020, which should be regarded as the last day of employment for each employee, with clear instruction to pay August salaries to affected staff.

GCNet subsequently filed for a review.

But the NLC, in a letter dated September 25, 2020, dismissed the request for review citing Section 158 (1) of the Labour Act 2003 (Act 651), which provides that ‘the decision of the Arbitrator or majority of the Arbitrators shall constitute the Award and shall be binding on all parties.

GCNET heads to court for redress

GCNet proceeded to file a motion at the Accra High Court (Labour Division) to challenge the NLC outcome.

The management had wanted the arbitration award set aside because the HR policy manual was developed for administrative convenience and did not constitute a collective agreement between the management and GCNet Staff Welfare Association, in addition to the fact that workers are not unionised and the association is unregistered.

Because of that, GCNET argued that the MoU it signed with the staff association was null and void and, therefore, not binding.

Also, GCNET contended that it did not have the funds to pay the redundancy package as contained in the HR Manual because the government was yet to pay the compensation for abrogating the contract.

At the same time, there was no guarantee that the government would even pay compensation.

This, the association said in the latest release, that GCNet Management as an institution “does not and has not promoted, permitted or sanctioned the unionisation of its workers and always insisted that as an organisation it recognises the legitimacy of the Staff Welfare Association as the official mouthpiece and representative body of Staff.”

The association said management should commit to the existing structures which enables them to negotiate for workers.

The group argued that per Article 21(1) (e) and Article 24 (3) of the 1992 Constitution, freedom of association was guaranteed, and no law states that every association must be registered.

It further contended that the government had agreed to pay GCNet compensation for abrogating the contract and that compensation would include the redundancy package for staff.

The Judge found no merit and therefore dismissed the case brought to the Accra High Court.

Citing the basis for a no case, His Lordship, Justice Frank Aboadwe Rockson, on February 1, 2021, ruled that GCNet, by its conduct and statement concerning dealings with the leadership of the Staff Welfare Association and the Association itself, did not deny that the Staff Welfare Association lacks capacit to pursue the rights of workers..

In the 10-page ruling, the Court reminded GCNet that the issue was addressed in the Arbitration Report by the Arbitration Panel at NLC and referred to Page 7, a part which read, “suffice to say however that if a worker can negotiate with the employer or a representative of the employer, we do not see why a representative of the witness (worker) cannot negotiate with the representative of the employer”.

The Court further noted that in the submission of supporting documents of its application, SGS/ GCNet never denied the Staff Welfare Association’s existence as the official representative of the company’s employees.

Sit-down strike

Following management’s failure to pay the severance packages, some workers embarked on a sit-down strike in September to press their demands.

It followed a resolution by the Staff Welfare Association to commence a series of industrial actions against their management from Thursday, September 24, 2020, until further notice.