Kumasi — CASUAL EMPLOYEES working on the construction of the Sofoline Interchange yesterday went on rampage, putting the management of the Chinese construction firm under siege, and burnt car tyres in protest against what they described as poor working conditions, and harsh treatment being meted out to them by their employers.

For several hours, the enraged workers, wearing red bands and chanting war songs amidst drumming and dancing, took over the Sofoline construction site, forcing the management of China Geo-Engineering Corporation to seek refuge in temporarily built offices at the construction site.

The employees, most of them casual, were protesting against the inhumane treatment they were suffering at the hands of the expatriate workers, and other service conditions which have been denied them since they were employed for the past years.

The incensed workers protested that they were being subjected to various forms of treatments and racial abuses by their Chinese employers, while their rights as employees, under the country's labour laws, were trampled upon.

According to them, the company was yet to regularise their services to enable them become fully-fledged employees, as the labour law requires, while their plea for the management to formalise their mode of remuneration, by passing it through the banks, has also not been heeded to.

They lamented that even though most of them have worked with the company for several years, they were still being categorised as casual workers, in contravention of the labour act, which requires that an employer should regularise the appointment of an employee, after he or she had worked consistently for six months.

One of the spokespersons of the agitated workers lamented further that notwithstanding the meagre salaries given to them by their employers, they are also surcharged with the cost of the repair of any equipment which gets damaged in the course of their duties, a situation which, according to him, affects their already poor monthly take-home pay.

"We are often threatened with dismissal at the least provocation, and those who have been dismissed, were denied any severance package," one of the workers bemoaned.

The spokesperson said several attempts to get the issues resolved had proved futile, hence their resort to the protest.

He contended that the management was simply being adamant in heeding to their request, adding that the numerous interventions by officials from the Labour Commission, to get the Chinese company to resolve their grievances, had fallen on deaf ears.

The spokesperson for the aggrieved workers therefore appealed to the government to come to intercede on their behalf, and ensure that their rights as citizens of the country were not abused by the Chinese.

Meanwhile, the attempt to get the Site Engineer, Mr. Guo-Zhan Ming, to react to the agitations of the workers, did not materialize, as he refused to comment, except to say he did not know why the workers were protesting.

A report received by the paper later revealed that one Ing. Boampong was preparing to consult the management and the leadership of the workers to get the matter amicably resolved.

The 10.3 kilometre KATH-Abuakwa road links Kumasi to the Brong Ahafo and Western regions.

The section from the KATH to Sofoline roundabout, which is about two kilometres, is to be a three lane dual carriageway, with the remaining 8.3 kilometre stretch being widened into a two lane dual carriageway.