By Bampia James Bundu
Workers of the Freetown Waste Management Company (FWMC) have started an indefinite sit-down strike over salary and NASSIT payment and medical allowances. One of the striking workers, Alimamy Kamara, told Politico that they were tired of being “maltreated by the company,” adding that they had still not received their June salary. Apart from claims that the workers were not equipped for the job, Kamara alleged that since the Freetown City Council (FCC) took over waste management their conditions of service had deteriorated. Siaka Bangura, the principal shop steward and supervisor who also serves as the liaison officer between the union and FWMC, said that things went on well with the workers until the local government took over management. “With FCC there are serious problems with administration. We receive late salaries, work under poor conditions and with no proper care for workers who are sick or injured,” he said, and called on government, as a permanent solution, to privatize FWMC. He said that the Mayor of Freetown, Sam Franklyn Bode Gibson visited their office yesterday but failed to enter their compound, which he said was tantamount to insult. “His attitude has worsened the situation among staff and we were expecting him to address the general staff. Instead, he only called on a few senior staff, talked to them and later walked out,” he said. The human resource and development officer at FWMCA, Joblin Mohamed Kallon confirmed that the protesting workers had not received their salaries for June, which caused the strike action. He said the public utility trade negotiation council, which was established by government to look into the affairs of public entities, recently approved a salary increment for staff in public entities among them FWMC. “Unfortunately there has been no salary increment for waste management,” he said and called on government to take over waste management because the FCC lacked the capacity to properly manage the company. Meanwhile, the General Manager of FWMC, Sulaiman Zainu Parker, confirmed they had not paid their staff for June but were doing everything possible to persuade FCC to disburse funds for salaries to be paid. He said the problem lay with the FCC which was responsible for payment of staff, saying: “We only submit vouchers to FCC and it is up to them to decide when and how to pay the workers. My hands are tied behind my back on this”. On the issue of equipment, Mr. Parker told Politico that they had already submitted vouchers for the purchase of working gears such as rain coats, gloves and other cleaning materials. He said they had met NASSIT obligations for all workers and expressed disappointment at the failure of the insurance company to properly register the workers. He called on the government to privatize the company because it lacked the ability to properly clean the country.
