George Nyaunu with some executive members of the union addressing the press
Members of the National Petroleum Tanker Drivers Union have threatened to embark on sit-down strike over a new directive issued by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA).
The drivers, who are attached to the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and Bulk Oil and Storage Transport (BOST), said the new policy would negatively affect their work.
NPA recently issued a directive that from June 2017 all fuel haulage trucks above 10 years would not be allowed to transport petroleum products at any of the distribution points.
NPA further directed that haulage companies with less than 10 trucks would not be granted permit to do business with TOR and BOST.
The drivers said government was taking steps to collapse the business of several LPG stations and the drivers in the country.
They accused government of planning to reintroduce the door-to-door Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) delivery system.
The system, which used to be in place some years ago, collapsed as a result of inefficient guidelines and regulations.
The door-to-door Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) delivery system, also known as “Cylinder recirculation,’ allowed consumers to exchange their empty cylinders with already filled LPG cylinders instead of going to the gas stations to refill them.
Addressing a press conference at Kpone in the Greater Accra Region, George Nyaunu, the Chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Tanker Drivers Union, noted government intends to do this through a new haulage transport policy being implemented by the NPA.
The NPA came up with this idea in the year 2012, but following some intensive discussions with stakeholders in the industry it was rejected, but the NPA, without consultation, wants to secretly implement the policy, according to him.
He called on President John Dramani Mahama to intervene in the matter.
From Vincent Kubi, Kpone