By Issah Olegor
Tensions within the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) have escalated sharply following the refusal of Chief Executive Randy Abbey to meet labour unions to discuss controversial salary reductions imposed on workers, deepening mistrust and fuelling accusations of authoritarian leadership within one of the most critical state institutions.
The crisis erupted after management unilaterally implemented a cost-cutting policy that slashed staff salaries by 10 percent, while senior executives were subjected to a 20 percent cut.
The decision, justified by management as a response to financial pressures within the cocoa sector, was taken without negotiation or consultation with organised labour, a move unions say violates long-established industrial relations protocols at COCOBOD and undermines collective bargaining structures.
In reaction, the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU-Ghana) and the General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) formally demanded an emergency meeting of the Standing Joint Negotiating Committee (SJNC), the official platform for dialogue between management and workers.
The meeting, scheduled for Monday, February 23, 2026, was intended to provide management with the opportunity to justify the salary cuts, respond to workers’ grievances, and explore alternative solutions to the institution’s financial challenges.
However, COCOBOD management, in a formal letter from its headquarters in Accra, informed the unions that the Chief Executive would not be available for the meeting due to “an equally important assignment out of the country.”
The response, signed by Wahab A. Suleman, Deputy Director at the Office of the Chief Executive, merely proposed that a new date be discussed at a later time, effectively postponing dialogue at a moment of heightened worker agitation.
The postponement has been interpreted by labour leaders as a calculated avoidance of accountability and engagement. Union officials argue that the refusal to meet at such a critical time signals disregard for workers’ welfare and a breakdown of mutual respect between management and staff.
For many COCOBOD employees, the salary cuts come at a time of severe economic hardship, rising living costs, and uncertainty within the cocoa sector, making the reductions both financially painful and symbolically damaging.
Beyond the immediate labour dispute, the standoff reflects deeper structural problems within COCOBOD. Over the years, the institution has grappled with financial instability, debt accumulation, governance controversies, and political interference.
Workers now fear that internal austerity measures are being used as quick fixes for long-standing systemic failures, rather than addressing inefficiencies, procurement challenges, and institutional mismanagement that have weakened the organisation’s financial base
Union sources insist that workers should not be made scapegoats for broader policy failures in the cocoa sector. They argue that genuine reform must be rooted in transparency, consultation, shared sacrifice, and accountability, not unilateral decisions imposed from the top.
The current leadership approach, they warn, risks destroying internal morale and institutional cohesion at a time when the cocoa sector already faces multiple external pressures.
The involvement of both ICU-Ghana and GAWU, two powerful affiliates of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), has raised the stakes significantly. Historically, unresolved disputes involving these unions have often escalated into industrial actions when dialogue collapses, creating fears that COCOBOD could soon face strikes, work slowdowns, or nationwide labour disruptions across its divisions and subsidiaries.
