Eighteen Junior and Senior Staff Executives of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) have been suspended by the Authority for organising an unauthorised press conference to level baseless allegations against the Board Chairman, Peter Mac Manu.

The executives representing both Tema and Takoradi unions were slapped with various periods of suspension without salary.

According to the DAILY GUIDE newspaper, eight out of the eleven union executives in Tema were suspended while the remaining three were pardoned for supposedly not partaking in the press conference.

However, all the 10 union executives at the Takoradi Port have been suspended for their various roles in the unlawful act.

Whiles some were issued with a two-week suspension, others had two months and two months plus 28 days without salary.

The executives purportedly breached Article 14 and 28 of Collective Agreement of GPHA when they fictitiously fabricated stories to tarnish the image of GPHA, government, the board chairman and his family.

Again, they travelled to the Takoradi Port in the Western Region to hold the press conference without authorisation from management.

These among other reasons have compelled management of GPHA to call for the suspension without pay to serve as a deterrent to all staff members of the Authority.

Though the workers have publicly retracted and apologized for making the unsubstantiated allegations on May 22, 2018, against the board chairman and his family, management of the Authority believes punishing them severely will ensure sanity in the organization.

Earlier, queries were issued to the workers, but they claimed they took the action in the name of the union so the queries should be redirected to the union.

Management concluded that in order to put a stop to their untoward behaviour, the executives of both the Senior Staff Union and the Junior Staff Union at Tema and Takoradi Ports should be punished in accordance with the Collective Agreement.