November 21, 2017 By Elizabeth A. Kaine
Aggrieved ex-workers of FCC stormed State House yesterday
Hundreds of redundant workers of the Freetown City Council (FCC) yesterday stormed State House in protest, demanding their terminal benefits.
It could be recalled that some workers of the Freetown Waste Management at FCC were made jobless in December 2013 after MASADA Energy International Company took over cleaning of the city.
A letter from the FCC dated 3rd November, 2013 addressed to the redundant staff read: “As you are already aware, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and the Freetown City Council had signed a contract for the cleaning of Freetown with Masada Energy International Company.”
The letter further states that with the signing of the contract the Freetown Waste Management Company ceased to exist as at 30th November, 2013 and that they wished to inform all their staff that salary for the month of November 2013 and redundancy benefit will be computed and paid to all affected persons.
According to Osman Kabba, one of the aggrieved redundant staff, they worked tirelessly for the Freetown Waste Management Company from 2008 to December 2013 when they were made redundant, adding that they were yet to receive their redundancy package.
He further expressed that the mayor had promised that council would expedite arrangements to ensure that they get their end of service benefit, but to no avail.
“Before coming here we went to the Local Government and Rural Development Ministry at Yuoyi Building but nobody attended to us, hence we decided to come to State House to let the president know our problem,” he said.
Meanwhile, the irate former workers had to disperse after hours of picketing State House. It remains unclear whether they will stage a similar protest in the coming days.