Mamudou Jobarteh, who dragged Ocean Bay Hotel to the Kanifing Industrial Tribunal for wrongful dismissal along with eleven former employees of the hotel, on 28 November 2012 told the tribunal what transpired between them and their former employer.
He testified that he was working as a security guard at Ocean Bay Hotel and his eleven colleagues were also working as security guards and they were issued with employment letters.
The said employment letters were shown to him, which he identified.
Garba Cham, Secretary General of the Gambia Workers’ Union, applied to tender the letters, and the defendant’s counsel, Aziz Bensouda, did not raise any objection.
The letters were admitted by the tribunal.
Further testifying, Jobarteh told the tribunal that they worked for Ocean Bay Hotel for five years, and that they were given letters of termination between the months of January and April this year.
He adduced that they reported the matter to the MD of social security, as they felt that the termination of their services was wrong.
He further posited that the nephew of the former MD of SSHFC was among the list of those whose services were terminated but was withdrawn.
At this juncture, Garba Cham gave him the said termination letters to identify, which he did.
Garba Cham applied to tender the letters, and the defendant’s counsel did not object to the tendering of the said letters bearing the names of the plaintiffs.
They were subsequently admitted by the tribunal.
The case was adjourned till 4 December 2012.
Magistrate Dawda Jallow presided over the case.
