By Hasbin Shaw in Freetown, Sierra Leone
Collectors assigned at various tollbooths along the Wellington-Masiaka route in Sierra Leone recently staged a peaceful protest demanding for better work condition, following the failure of management of the West Africa Operation and Management Company (WAOMC) Ltd, the company which manages the tolls, to improve their conditions of service.
The protesters displayed placards with inscriptions: Enough is enough”, “Pay us on time”, “Give us our rights and liberty in our country”, and “We are not slaves, treat us as humans”, among others.
The protesters shut the Hastings and Songo tollgates but were later the Sierra Leonean police reopened the road and the toll gates.
The striking workers told our Correspondent in Freetown that their pay and conditions are appalling, and that they don’t have lunch/break, adding that they are not allowed to use their mobile phones inside the tollbooth during eight hours of work, even if there is an emergency.
In the remote communities where the gates are located workers should bring their food along when they report for duty and eat while collect tolls.
The tollbooth collectors said, “We should have staged our strike on August 1st, but we decided to stage it today (July 9, 2018) because the new regulations of the company are so cumbersome. Besides, it is an indirect way to redundant staff.”
They added that the strike action is to prevent the management from reducing their salary in their forthcoming contract in August.
“We want the management to consider us as important staff of the company. We will continue to strike until we have an improved contract in August. Our current contract is not satisfactory,” they said.
In giving the breakdown of their salary, they said, “Staff that underwent the six months of pre-job training are receiving gross salary of Le 830, 000 – basic Le 600,000, medical Le100,000, rent allowance Le 80,000, transportation Le 50,000 and daily work post subsidy Le 28,000.
“Staff who did not undergo the six-month pre-job training are receiving the same gross salary but with a reduction in the daily work post subsidy of Le 16, 000,” they claimed.
The collectors say they are asking nothing less than Le 2,000,000 as salary, and all salary should be paid on the last day of every month as it is spelt out clearly in their current contract. they are also demand that staff working for nine hours at Tollgate Station 2 and 3 should be compensated for extra time as stated in their contract.
They believe the WAOMC management is taking advantage of them because there are limited jobs in the country, adding, “Based on the new standards (procedures) set by management of the company, it is now very clearer that the next contract which will be available in August has no improved terms and condition of service, instead the management is looking for ways to reduce salary and get rid of those who are receiving more.”
They also claimed that the company has realized that there are people who are ready to take less salary, which is why the company wants to reduce the post subsidy to Le15,000 from Le28,000 so as to discourage old employees. According to them, their management is reluctant to address their concerns.
But the West Africa Operation and Management Company has promised to look into all the concerns raised by the tollbooth collectors.
Four government officials including Labor Minister Adekunle King, Ministry of Works and Public Assets Raymond DeSouza George; Minister of Internal Affairs, Edward A. Soloku; and Minister of Transport and Alleviation, Kabineth Kallon visited the scene of the protest and held meetings with the management of the company and the aggrieved workers.
Following their meetings, the government officials advised the management to at least consider 80 percent of the concerns raised by the tollbooth collectors. They advised the company to dialogue with the aggrieved staffs so that there will be no strike action in the future.
Based on the intervention of government officials, the company is said to have held a meeting on Wednesday, July 10, 2018, with the tollbooth collectors and other relevant stakeholders to address some of the concerns of workers.
The WAOMC management said Sierra Leone is responsible for the operation and management of the Toll Road System along the Wellington-Masiaka highway.
It could be recalled that the aggrieved staffs went through six months job training without a salary or a monthly allowance. The management was gave them only Le10, 000 per day as their transport fair.
