TOR Launches Senior Staff Union to Assist Operations

Business news for Sunday, October 25, 2020

Source: GNA

2020-10-25

The Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) inaugurated its branch of the General Transportation Oil and Chemical Works Union (GTPCWU) of the TUC with a call for the government to provide the refinery with the crude it needs to operate.

Bernard Owusu, GTPCWU’s national chairman, told the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of the opening that the refinery faced a number of challenges, including obtaining unsuitable crude for refining.

Mr. Owusu explained that TOR currently had a third-party refining agreement which, he noted, did not allow the refinery to make a 100 percent profit from its activities.

He added that when TOR refined its own crude oil and to its full capacity, it provides Ghanaians with cheaper oil products compared to what was currently happening with the third-party agreement.

He urged the refinery staff not to be discouraged by the challenges, but should continue to work hand in hand with the administration to ensure TOR recovers to its original mandate.

Samuel Boateng, GTPCWU’s first national vice president, also reiterated the need for the government to support TOR’s management of obtaining its own crude oil for refining, indicating that the refinery’s shutdown and shutdown often did not help its operations.

Boateng noted that the benchmark for each refinery was to operate continuously for two years and then shut down for further maintenance, stating that “but what TOR has been seeing is that you operate for about four months, close and start again.” which according to him, was greatly affecting TOR.

“We want the government to support TOR management, TOR is viable and profitable, we have used our internally generated fund to pay for the RFCC plan from 2000 to 2008, which exceeded $ 200 million dollars, so we need a continuous supply of crude so that we can run ”.

Emmanuel Addo-Kumi, outgoing President of the GTPCWU TOR Professional and Management Personnel Union (PMSU), giving a brief history of the Union, said that in 2016, some of its members who were promoted to the senior staff category decided to remain at the GTPCWU.

Addo-Kumi, also Chairman of GTPCWU, Accra area, added that follow-up letters were sent to the relevant authorities on the matter, leading to his first union dues being deducted from January 2017 to the GTPCWU, adding that Even though they faced many challenges and nicknames from other colleagues, they stood their ground and the union survived.

Mr. Anthony Jojo Koomson, current president of the GTPCWU TOR PMSU, in an acceptance speech promised to have further deliberation on the deductions of some legal payments from staff salaries.

Mr. Koomson said that “it is time to stop deducting legal payments intended to ensure and promote the welfare of workers and not pay necessary institutions for present and future worker benefits.”

Mr. Herbert Ato Morrison, TOR Deputy Managing Director, said that management would always collaborate with the union for the good of the refinery, and emphasized that union leaders should not misrepresent them to workers.

Mr. Morrison also called for unity among workers and warned them against using their jobs to undermine other workers as a way to score points.

There were fraternal messages from the Ghana Trade Union Congress (TUC), the TOR Divisional Union of GTPCWU junior staff, the TOR Ladies Association and the Tema District Labor Council.