The Bouake Transport Union (UTB), a leading transport company in Cote d’Ivoire, has decided to lay off most of its staff for one month because of the restrictive measures related to the Covid-19, making almost all of its activities impossible.
“This decision, which concerns the majority of the staff, takes effect from April 1, 2020 until April 30, 2020,” the company says in a note to its staff.
To prevent the Covid-19 pandemic, Ivorian authorities have decreed since Sunday at midnight, the isolation of Greater Abidjan from cities in other parts of the country, in addition to closing borders. This makes it difficult for the company to serve those areas.
Since these “unforeseen events (…) make it practically impossible to continue almost all of our activities, and in accordance with Article 16.11 of the Labor Code, the management hereby notifies to the staff, the technical layoff,” the note says.
The isolation of Greater Abidjan, where most of the services of this private transport company are concentrated, drastically reduces the company’s activities. This decision ostensibly aims to reduce its staff in view of the reduction in traffic.
The number of confirmed cases with Coronavirus Cote d’Ivoire, reached 190 on Wednesday, including nine cases cured and one death, according to the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene, which also reports 11 new cases of contamination in the country.
Cote d’Ivoire, like many countries around the world, is facing the spread of the Covid-19, which poses a global public health challenge. The pandemic affects several countries with more than 800,000 confirmed cases.
AP/ls/fss/abj/APA