Don’t lay off workers when gold prices fall — GMWU

The General Secretary of the Ghana Mine Workers Union (GMWU), Mr Prince William Ankrah, has expressed concern about the way some mining companies lay off workers anytime the price of gold falls.

He said there was the need to confront such challenges with a mature and positive engagement that would ensure that both the mining companies and workers were not sacrificed for selfish purposes.

Addressing the GMWU National Executive Council meeting at Obuasi, Mr Ankrah said the GMWU was always eager to work with companies that had the conviction to put workers’ interest first in everything they did.

He said there had been occasions in the past when gold price fell “but smartly, we survived as an industry.”

Mr Ankrah said one of the measures taken at that time was cutting down benefits in contracts, and added that many mine workers were affected and they had problems with their leadership.

He, however, expressed regret that somewhere along the line, the management of mining companies did not do anything about their conditions of service, describing that attitude as hypocritical.

Mr Ankrah urged members of the GMWU to unite in the quest to derive maximum benefit from the gold industry “to the extent that we can see our members earning a pound of their sweat.”

Adopting an approach he described as ‘enlightened radicalism,’ he said GMWU would positively engage with the management of mining companies to address the issues in respect of lay-offs, even if it involved one worker.

“In this regard, I want the captains of the mining industry in Ghana to get it very clear that we will not stand in the way when it comes to redundancies but it will be done only when that becomes the ultimate.”

“Any lazy manager’s first option of just laying people off is not what GMWU believes in. We will like to see managers who can think on their feet and device appropriate solutions,” he said.

Mr Ankrah said the leadership and members of GMWU were concerned about Ghana cashing in on the gold industry just as Australia had done to propel its development.

He said GMWU would support the decision of AngloGold Ashanti to modernise its mines “but AngloGold should know that a mine that wants to modernise to attract world class skills should be prepared to pay world class salaries to its workers.”

Mr Ankrah stressed the need for mine workers to be paid adequately, adding, “We expect that a mine worker in Ghana after working for about five years can earn considerable amount of money.”

He said it was important to address salary inequity in the mining industry.

In a welcome address, a Senior Manager (Administration) at AngloGold Ashanti, Mr Hussein Abugri, urged the GMWU to find ways of collaborating with management to deal with the current challenges in the mining industry.

Source: Daily Graphic/Ghana