The prompt intervention of at least four government ministers and the goodwill demonstrated by the Chinese company to settle the matter amicably saved the day.
The Ministers of Labour, Youth, Transport and Internal Affairs arrived at the scene shortly after the protest commenced and were able to bring the situation under control.
However, the government officials equally scolded the protesters for staging a protest without following due procedures including communicating their grievances to the relevant stakeholders including the employers and to inform them of the pending strike action over a period of twenty one days as dictated by law.
The company denied claims of the workers that they had communicated their concerns to the management.
Hastings Tollgate Station Agent, Alhaji Osman Kamara disclosed that they only learnt through a social media (watsapp) post about the grievances of the workers past Friday.
He said the company has however noted the concerns of the aggrieved workers and will meet with them today to negotiate.
While the company has expressed willingness to look into some of the concerns of the workers, the performance based policy remains intact.
