Metro Mass drops plans to lay off over 1,000 workers

The Metro Mass Transit (MMT) has dropped plans to lay-off 1,200 workers due to the retrenchment cost which the company says it has no money for.

The idea of retrenchment was entertained by the transport company due to an overload of 3,600 workers who are said to be operating only 430 buses currently on the road.

The Board Chairman of MMT, Mr Ahmed Arthur told the Daily Graphic newspaper that it is difficult to keep the huge number of workers and still remain in business as a viable company.

He, however, noted that it makes business sense to keep the over bloated workers than to fire them and pay huge compensation packages which may crippled the company.
“When we worked out the figures for laying off 1,200 workers, we realised that the figures were too huge and so we had to discard the idea of retrenchment,” he said, adding: “The cost is just too much and maintaining the workers will save us more money than laying them off.
The public transport company operates 750, however, 320 have broken down leaving only 430 on the road.

Mr Arthur, who is also the Member of Parliament for Banda, noted that MMT makes a daily revenue of GHC220,000 from the 450 buses currently in operation.

He disclosed that the MMT was expecting 200 more buses by December to beef up its fleet.
He further said the board has put in measures to control revenue leakages.