The board chairman of the Ghana International Airline Limited, Albert Botchway has stated that the decision by the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) to drag the board of the company to court is an attempt to stop the sale of the assets of GIA and to also get the court to direct the company to make redundancy payments to workers. Mr. Botchway who was speaking on Citi FM Friday said, the GIA does not have any assets and cannot afford to pay further severance awards to retrenched workers of the company. “When we came in we realized that they could not operate efficiently. They were not effective and they were just causing losses month by month… We had to tell them to go home and there was an agreement that we were going to give them 4 months salary [arrears] and a one month salary in lieu of notice.” He explained that the ICU was invited to have a discussion on the next steps to be taken but they surprised the board with the court writ. “I don’t understand where they are coming from and what they have been doing or what their motives are. Maybe they are trying their luck, hoping that they will get some more money,” he added. Mr. Botchway said demands being made on the board are outrageous and that retrenched workers should be grateful to the board for ensuring that they received some money from the government on humanitarian grounds. Solomon Kotei, acting General Secretary of the ICU said in reaction to Mr. Botchway’s comment that the decision to go to court was a choice he took to ensure that the rule of law prevailed in the matter. He insists that GIA as an enterprise has a responsibility to ensure that the staff is laid off properly. He says the union is waiting to see a response from the board in court after they were served with the writ. He corroborated the fact that all of the salary arrears of retrenched workers were paid before the writ was filed but says some people have not received the one month pay in lieu of notice due them, adding that the decision to go to court was a choice he decided to take on behalf of the group. Story by Derick Romeo Adogla/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana