Mineworkers kick against Newmont redundancy stance
The Ghana Mine Workers Union (GMWU) on Monday said it disagreed with Newmont Gold Company to further lay-off 600 employees.
The union said, so far more than 3,500 employees have exited the mining industry in the country in the name of redundancy, out of which 400 are from the Newmont Ahafo operations.
The Mine workers, in a statement signed by its General Secretary, Mr Prince William Ankrah, said the Union found it interesting why Newmont wanted to go ahead with the redundancy exercise, when factual evidence available showed a vibrant business outlook on a pedestal of growth and progress.
“Consequently, GMWU is daring Newmont Ghana Gold Limited that any attempt to unilaterally issue out redundancy letters to employees whilst the case is pending at the National Labour Commission, will be met with a strike action,” the statement stated.
It said the Union was also becoming worried about the situation where courtesy calls/visits permitted by His Excellency the President and traditional leaders were being used by the leaders of multi-national companies such as Newmont Ghana Gold Limited, as a sign of endorsement of their business decisions or plans.
The statement said the Union had fully co-operated with all companies that had built a convincing business case, which warranted labour rationalization.
However, it repeated that the Union was unable to accept reasons being put forward by Newmont as constituting grounds for a further 600 employees to exit the Company.
The Union, according to the statement, believed frequent industrial conflicts did not only affect companies and workers, but also tended to impoverish the community as a whole.
It said ever since the Union aligned its long-term strategic plans with the government's development and growth agenda for the industry, it had facilitated a massive in-flow of foreign capital into the industry from all over the world, spearheaded by captains of global mining conglomerates.
“The positive result of this co-determination is the phenomenal growth in investment, taxes and exports from the industry, according to the Ghana Chamber of Mines, the Ghana Revenue Authority and the Ministry of Finance.”
It said although the GMWU was aware that some exogenous factors sometimes posed difficulties to companies; the Union could not condone and agree with organizations when they decide to exploit a particular turbulent situation to the detriment of workers' rights.