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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According to the court presided over by Justice Laurenda Owusu, 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.

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.

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”.

Goldfields Ghana Limited in December 2017 announced that it will have to lay off some 1,500 workers at its Tarkwa mine.

The move also followed plans by Goldfields to shift from owner mining to contract mining.

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

The court is however expected to hear the case on whether Goldfields is justified in the decision to lay off staff for resorting to contract mining, subsequently.

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By: Pius Amihere Eduku & Fred Tettey Djagbanor/ citibusinessnews.com/Ghana

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

[contextly_sidebar id=”0SuembILJIpcOVz0QpOcdeK9VGddRAbf”]The General Secretary of the Union, Prince William Ankrah who presented the petition, 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 Majority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, who received the petition on behalf of the Speaker of Parliament, said the members of Parliament will study the petition and take the necessary action to ensure that the issue is amicably resolved.

Goldfields Ghana Limited told Citi Business News earlier 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 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 indicate that, contrary to their claim of the life of the mine of 5-6 years, [it is over 15 years] 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.

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

The post Mineworkers Union petitions Parliament over planned Goldfields layoffs 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

The post Mine Workers’ Union rejects Goldfields’ reason for sacking workers appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

He made mention of this at the launch of the 2017 Professional Golfers’ Tournament, which was held at the Goldfields Ghana office in Accra on Monday.

Baku also explained the reason why Goldfields Ghana pulled out as the headline sponsors of Black Stars.

He said, “We spent over $15 million on the Black Stars in a period of six years as headline sponsors of the team. Our sponsorship enabled the Black Stars to qualify to the 2006 World Cup in Germany and South Africa 2010.

“Ghana Football Association were knocking on our doors to allow other sponsors to come on board, so we decided to step aside.

“We stepped aside not because we had run out of cash but wanted others to come on board and support the Black Stars. We are still supporting the Black Stars and we will continue to support them”, he added.

Goldfields Ghana Limited are currently sponsoring Tarkwa-based Premier League side Medeama.
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By: The Finder/Ghana

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