The General Transport Petroleum Chemical Workers Union (GTPCWU) has vowed to ensure that its interdicted executives are reinstated as soon as possible.

Two executives of the union have been interdicted by the TOR Board of Directors over the controversial deal between the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and Torentco for disclosing classified information regarding the deal during a press conference.

The union has been on the case of the Board of Directors of TOR, calling for their removal from office following the Torentco deal.

According to the board, the interdicted union executives breached the non-disclosure agreement regarding the draft TOR/Torentco Lease and O&M agreements, citing Article 43(4) (vii) of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between TOR and GTPCWU.

During an interview on Eyewitness News, on January 15, 2024, the Chairman of GTPCWU, Bernard Owusu, stated that the union executives have not committed any offence to warrant their interdiction.

He described the action of the board as the ‘show of power’, adding that the manual by the Board of Directors is new to them.

“The Chairperson for the Junior Staff at TOR and the Chairman for the Senior Staff have been interdicted as employees of TOR for speaking to the media and talking about the Torentco deal. In the history of TOR, this is the first time that we have heard of this so-called manual of not speaking to the media or going to the media. This is sheer power; the board of directors wants to show they are the people in charge and are untouchable. The board claims they have shared confidential information, and by so doing, they have interdicted them. They have not done anything wrong; these are innocent workers who are doing their jobs as leaders of TOR. It means if you are doing something fraudulent, nobody should talk about it.”

He added, “The mother union is writing to management to revert the decision unconditionally; we are consulting our structures, and tomorrow we are having a management committee meeting. The workers of the refinery will not allow this to go to sleep without using lawful means to bring members back.”

The Chairman of GTPCWU said they will resist attempts by the Board of Directors of TOR to vent their anger on workers.

“Let me caution the board of TOR once again, we are saying that they are incompetent; they cannot do the job President Akufo-Addo’s government has given them. They have failed woefully. They rather want to vent their frustration on members; we will not allow that to survive,” he stated.