Some employees of the company staged a demonstration on Monday to resist the transition which formally began on Monday.

Mr. Johnson, on Eyewitness News explained that the move was aimed at sustaining the operations of the company.

“As management, we have a duty and a right to make decisions that are not only right for employees but all stakeholders. And I am talking about communities, I am talking about investors, I am talking about government and I am talking about employees themselves. We take all of these into the decisions that we make. If we have to make decisions solely based on the interests of one category of stakeholders, we might be running the mine down and we believe that as management it is better to have a sustainable operation.”

He indicated the company’s decision to employ workers on contract basis will still serve the interest of the workers.

“We are making this decision to prolong the life of the mine and workers would have work to do whether they are working directly under the umbrella or on contract. They would have work to do for a longer period.”” Mr. Johnson explained.

Petition against layoffs

The workers had earlier petitioned Parliament over Goldfields’ intended layoff.

According to the Union, the move by the company amounted to unfair labour practice.

The General Secretary of the Union, Prince William Ankrah who presented the petition had indicated that the basis for the company’s actions is unfounded and could result in the loss of revenue for many of the workers.

“Goldfields intends having its own way. We are a law-abiding union, we’ve had stability in our industry for many years. We deem it expedient to make sure that we present the petition to the honourable House so they understand the dynamics and seeing how best to address the issue…We are demanding that Goldfields cannot do what they intend doing by subjecting our members to a mining contract. Members will lose revenue streams,” he said.

The Union later dragged Goldfields to court.

In the writ, the workers prayed the court to restrain Goldfields from going ahead with the intended redundancy exercise.

But the court in its ruling on March 2, 2018, dismissed the injunction application.

The court presided over by Justice Laurenda Owusu, said the mining company risks losing more if the court halts the ongoing layoffs before a determination of the substantive matter on whether they acted within law.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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His comments come on the back of the company’s move to lay off about 1,500 mine workers and re-employ them on contract basis.

In a Citi News interview, the General Secretary for the Union, Prince William Ankrah, said Goldfields was acting in a very arrogant manner because it has the backing of the military.

“…It is ruthless arrogance, its corporate arrogance and they [Goldfields] don’t care. As far as they are concerned the military people are there to support them with their nefarious deeds. They are unleashing on them a kind of relationship which is not the best,” he complained.

Background

[contextly_sidebar id=”39u4EjIkwJLpTfsPbfsBFMFLFrCeRGQ4″]Goldfields Ghana Limited in December 2017 announced that it will have to lay off some 1,500 workers at its Tarkwa mine over plans by the company to shift from owner mining to contract mining.

The mining firm argued that the latter is more cost efficient compared to the former practice.

But the workers complained that the move is not in their interest.

The Ghana Mine Workers’ Union however dragged Goldfields to court over the issue.

In the writ, the workers prayedthe court to restrain Goldfields from going ahead with the intended redundancy exercise until all the stakeholders involved.

They also wanted the court to say that the redundancy exercise was “unlawful.”

But the court in its ruling on March 2, 2018 dismissed the injunction application.

The court presided over by Justice Laurenda Owusu, said the mining company risks losing more if the court halts the ongoing layoffs before a determination of the substantive matter on whether they acted within law.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmoline.com/Ghana
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The judge, Laurenda Owusu, said she will rely on the relevant provisions in civil procedure rules, CI 47 and all the processes filed to deliver its ruling on the set date.

[contextly_sidebar id=”TTYO4Smdyd3ehMjOaB96uNfx3YMPbaiD”]The suit before the court was initiated on behalf of the workers by the Ghana Mine Workers Union (GMWU).

In the writ, the workers are praying the court to restrain Goldfields from going ahead with the intended redundancy exercise until all the stakeholders involved reach a consensus.

They are also seeking a declaration from the court that the redundancy exercise is “unlawful” because the reasons given by the mining giant to lay them off do not meet the “requirements, conditions or grounds for redundancy, as provided by Section 65 of the Labour Act, 2013, Act 651’’.

The workers further want the court to declare that the purported authorisation of the redundancy exercise by the Chief Labour Officer is “illegal, unlawful and null and void’’.

Background

In December 2017, Goldfields Ghana Limited revealed it was going to lay off about 1,500 workers as part of measures to change its business model and make the company profitable due to the relatively short lifespan of the mine.

But the Deputy General Secretary of the Ghana Mine Workers Union, Abdul Moomin Gbana, at the time said the reasons given by Goldfields were inconsistent with the facts on the ground.

“Goldfields claims the life of the mine is 5 to 6 years, and based on the limited time, they cannot invest in mining fleet… It can actually run for a number of years and you don’t necessarily need to replace the fleets that Goldfields claims it wants to do.”

“Records available to us indicates that, contrary to their claim of the life of the mine of 5-6 years, they have over 15 years of mine and so the question is, if your choice of contract mining is based on a limited life of mine and your own website projects 15 years, then, the question is, who are you misleading,” he argued.

This was the second time in three years that the mining firm embarked on a massive retrenchment exercise.

A 2014 exercise saw some 400 of its workforce laid off.

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By: Fred Djabanor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to him, their grievances cannot be resolved through protests but amicably through negotiation with the management of the company.

[contextly_sidebar id=”99XvL2c9UvI8Ss35s75ud1EucSyfDp7b”]Speaking on , Mr. Koletey revealed that an earlier planned meeting between the two parties did not take place after management of the company declined to attend.

He said the management’s stance must not encourage workers to stage protests over the matter, but follow due procedure.

“The Union informed us that there were thorny issues that were not raised so we wrote back to management requesting that they go back to the union to iron out their differences. When we saw that that was not done, we wrote back to request the parties to come for us to engage them, which we were anticipating that last Tuesday we will meet for a discussion on the union. The union representatives were there but management declined,” he said.

“The way forward is an engagement. The Union and management have to still come to the table for a discussion for us to reach a consensus. It is not a matter of threatening words, it is not a matter of demonstration, you still have to come to the negation table,” he added.

There is an ensuing impasse between management and staff of Goldfields Ghana Mine, as the company says it is changing its business module, and will be forced to lay off some workers.

Goldfields Ghana Limited told Citi Business News this week, that it will lay off about 1,500 workers this month, as part of measures to change its business model, and make the company profitable due to the relatively short lifespan of the mine.

But the Deputy General Secretary of the Ghana Mine Workers Union, Abdul Moomin Gbana, said the reasons given by Goldfields was inconsistent with the facts on the ground.

“Goldfields claims the life of the mine is 5 to 6 years, and based on the limited time, they cannot invest in mining fleet… It can actually run for a number of years and you don’t necessarily need to replace the fleets that Goldfields claims it wants to do. Records available to us indicates that, contrary to their claim of the life of the mine of 5-6 years, they have over 15 years of mine and so the question is, if your choice of contract mining is based on a limited life of mine and your own website projects 15 years, then, the question is, who are you misleading,” he said.

The workers have since petitioned parliament to look into the matter, but Mr. Kolotey believes they must still engage his office to amicably resolve the matter.

He noted that the workers can proceed to the National Labour Commission if they are still dissatisfied with the outcome of the expected negotiation.

“Where you cannot agree between the two, the law provides that you go to the National Labour Commission which is an independent body to look at the issue and bring finality to the matter,” he said.

Meanwhile, an Industrial Relations Expert, Kofi Davor, has suggested that workers of Goldfields Ghana can proceed to court if they feel dissatisfied about results from the various labour arbitrations on their impasse with the management of the company.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citfimonline.com/Ghana

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This follows a decision by the mining firm to lay off about one thousand five hundred of its workers.

[contextly_sidebar id=”aKuaGEm2HN7iSm3jayel6WBOXcTzCU01″]According to the company, the layoff is as a result of the mine life which is about six years.

However, in an interview with Citi Business News, National Chairman of the Union, Kwarko Mensah Gyarkari said the members will present their case to parliament today.

“The next action is for us to go to parliament and let the government and other stakeholders hear us and call Goldfields to order, we are calling Goldfields to order.”

He added, “On the Goldfields website it clearly shows that the mines have a lifespan of about ten more years yet today they claim the life of the mines are only up to six-year, which information do they want us to go by now, this clearly shows that they are lying and we will take them on”.

Meanwhile the General Secretary for the Trade Unions Congress (TUC), Dr. Anthony Yaw Baah has said that the TUC will fully support the Mine Workers Union in their plight.

According to him the action taken by Goldfields infringes on the rights of the workers and hence the TUC will use every legal means to ensure that no worker is laid off.

“We will let them know that there is a union and law in this country, we are here to solidarize with them because that is what we do as a union, we will continue to do all we can to protect their interest and Ghana Mine Workers Union”.

“They have made a move they have gone to court to try and stop this action by Goldfields and legally we are going to provide more support in terms of lawyers, in terms of our own experience in dealing with these issues, this is not the first time we are dealing with such an issue. I am just calling on Alfred Baku and the executives of Goldfields to come around and I did not expect such treatment from him to Ghanaians.”

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By: Anita Arthur/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana

The post Mine workers to petition Parliament over layoffs at Goldfields appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Goldfields Ghana Limited told Citi Business News this week that it will lay off about 1,500 workers this month, as part of measures to change its business model, and make the company profitable due to the relatively short lifespan of the mine.

Reacting to the development, the Deputy General Secretary of the Ghana Mine Workers Union, Abdul Moomin Gbana, said the reasons given by Goldfields was inconsistent with the facts on the ground.

“Goldfields claims the life of the mine is 5 to 6 years, and based on the limited time, they cannot invest in mining fleet… It can actually run for a number of years and you don’t necessarily need to replace the fleets that Goldfields claims it wants to do. Records available to us indicates that, contrary to their claim of the life of the mine of 5-6 years, they have over 15 years of mine and so the question is, if your choice of contract mining is based on a limited life of mine and your own website projects 15 years, then, the question is, who are you misleading,” he said.

This will be the second time in three years the mining firm has embarked on a massive retrenchment exercise after a 2014 exercise that saw some 400 of its workforce laid off.

“We are changing our business model from an owner binder to the contract binder. Previously, Goldfields acquired and maintained the mining fleets. What we are doing right now in 2017, our mining fleet has changed, and will need to be replaced now looking at the types of mines that we have which is five to six years of active mining. If we were to pump that money into fleet replacement, we will not actually be able to recoup that money back because we are talking about a huge capital investment here,” the company said.

Sacked workers to be reemployed

Meanwhile, the Vice President and Head of Corporate Affairs of the company, David Johnson, has said that majority of the workers that will be laid off will be reemployed by the contractor who will take over mining activities of the mine.

“It’s important to add however that, we have done a similar exercise a year ago where over eighty percent of the retrenched workers were actually absorbed by the contractor, so it’s not the case that you leave your employees and that is the end of the story. We actually engaged the contractors to ensure that as many people as possible, are re-engaged by the contractors,” he said.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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