JUDGMENT
OWUSU (MS) JSC.
The appellants herein are former employees of the Respondent, Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority.
By their employment, they were classified as casual or non-permanent workers.
In September 2002, the Respondent Authority carried out a re-organisation exercise in which both permanent and casual or non-permanent employees were declared redundant and therefore laid off.
The permanent employees were paid severance packages as provided in the collective Bargaining Agreement but the casual/non-permanent were paid what they describe as “mere pittances” because the Respondent contended that they were not entitled to severance packages because the provisions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement in respect of severance package did not apply to them as casual/non-permanent employees. The Respondent termed what was given to the casuals as “golden handshake.”
Some of the casual employees instituted an action against the Respondent in the case of AGBESI and Others V. GHANA PORTS…