The Chinese firm which is working on road projects in the Akatsi area of the Volta Region, the China Jiang International Construction Company, has been ordered to suspend operations with immediate effect, following its failure to comply with provisions of Ghana's labour laws. The Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare, the Factories Inspectorate Department and the Labour Department gave the order at Akatsi last Wednesday following reports of abuse of the rights of Ghanaian employees engaged by the company. According to the reports, the Chinese employers had consistently refused to allow Ghanaian workers to form a union to fight for their rights and demand facilities provided for by law. Additionally, the local workers were allegedly abused and made to work under poor conditions. The company, currently constructing the 31 kilometre Akatsi-Akanu road, can only resume work after it has taken practical steps to operate within the confines of the Labour Act 2003 (ACT 651). Following complaints by the local workers, the Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, Mr Antwi Boasiako-Sekyere; the Head of the Factories Inspectorate Department, Mr Adjei Boye, and the Deputy Chief Labour Officer, Mr Eugene N. Korletey, paid a visit to the company to verify the authenticity of those reports. During the unannounced visit to the company's premises, it came to light that four Ghanaian labourers who had lost their lives and 10 others who had sustained various degrees of injury in the course of their work had been denied compensation by the company's management. It was also established that the Ghanaians had not been provided with protective gear and shoes, even though the nature of their work demanded that clothing. One of the employees who narrated his plight to the Daily Graphic said one of his fingers was chopped off by a machine due to the negligence of the operator and yet he was denied compensation. Mr Boasiako-Sekyere was particularly worried by the fact that there was no collective bargaining agreement (CBA) which spelt out conditions of service for the Ghanaians. The Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Joe Gidisu, had earlier directed the formation of a workers' union in the company but the refusal of the company to heed his directive compelled the employees to write a follow-up petition to the minister. The petition, dated July 12, 2011, read in part, "As a result of your order, we know that an authentic union certificate was issued to the management of the China Jiang International Construction Company, instructing them to sign an agreement in labour terms between us (the workers) and the management. As we write, Mr Minister, the management, together with the company lawyer, has refused to sign the said labour agreement as indicated in the laws of Ghana." According to the petition, it considered the attitude of the management and the lawyer an affront to the labour laws of Ghana and the rights of the workers as human beings. It said they (the employees) were badly treated, as any worker who dared to complain was blacklisted and subsequently dismissed. In expressing their frustration, the employees made available to the Daily Graphic pictures of some of their colleagues who had, in the course of their duties, sustained injuries that had resulted in the loss of their limbs, fingers and other parts. In his reaction, the Managing Director of the company, Mr Wan Wulong, said he was ignorant of the existence of the Labour Act which enjoins organisations to protect the interest of their workers and promised the delegation that everything would be done to correct the anomaly.