NLC declines jurisdiction over Coca-Cola petition

The National Labour Commission (NLC) has declined jurisdiction over a petition filed by one Emmanuel Adable and 89 others, all employees of Coca-Cola Bottling Company Limited (CCBL) for wrongful termination of their appointment by their employer.
This followed a response by the CCBL to the NLC asking it to dismiss the petition of the sacked employees.
According to the CCBL, the petition was not grounded in law and had no basis.
Consequently, the Commission has directed the petitioners to go to court to seek redress.
On July 18, 2020, the former employees filed a complaint against the company at the NLC asking the Commission to compel their employers to pay them three months of redundancy package.
Led by Mr Emmanuel Adable, the petitioners brought the instant action against Coca-Cola for allegedly forcing them to resign without paying their redundancy compensation.
They stated that the non-payment of the package was in contravention of Article 57 (c) of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), which requires that Coca-Cola pays a severance award of three and half months’ salary for each completed year.
However, in their response, CCBL asked the NLC to dismiss the petition over what it described as “unlawful termination” of their appointments.
According to the company, it was its considered opinion that the petition was not grounded in law and had no basis.
“It is our considered opinion that the petition is not grounded in law and has no basis. We therefore request that the Commission makes a declaration on the merits of this demand, that is unlawful and not sustainable,” the company said.
In an 11-point response to the NLC, the company said all issues related to the disappointment of the supposed staff were carried within the ambit of the law.
Explaining the circumstances leading to the termination of the appointment of the said employees, the company said in 2015, it initiated a programme dubbed “Ashanti to restructure its operations.”
This resulted in the closure of their Kumasi plant and the declaration of some employees redundant.
It explained that after the execution of that exercise, management continued to engage the unions, and apprised them of its plans and intentions at its quarterly review meetings at different times.
The company said even though management confirmed the end of the redundancy programme at one of such meetings held on September 15, 2017, it informed the union that due to changes in the industry, the restructuring was going to be a continuous process.
“Further to this, even though the company by law had the right to terminate personnel subject to providing the right notices, the company chose to institute a programme by which staff could voluntarily resign,” it said.
It noted that this was a package not required by the CBA, however, the company undertook it as a support/welfare scheme to help it staff who wanted to move on to other things.
“This was called the “Golden Handshake.” It was made available to all staff on their request. The package included a half-day training session by a company-appointed and paid consultant dubbed “Planting for the Future”, which focused on equipping the existing employees with the financial literacy needed to manage their finances,” it said.
The statement said no employee was either coerced or forced to access the package and that all those who accessed it did so voluntarily.

BY CLIFF EKUFUL