Ex-Workers, GGL Management in Tango Over Severance Pay

About a thousand former workers of Goldfields Ghana Limited (GGL), a Tarkwa-based mining company, which has just taken over the management of Abosso Goldfields Limited (AGL) have appealed to President Kufuor to personally intervene to help them secure their severance pay from their former employers.

According to the ex-workers, they have now decided to officially petition the President because all attempts they have made since 1999 when they were laid-off to settle the matter amicably with their former employers have been unsuccessful.

"GGL is saying they do not owe us and would, therefore, not pay us anything," they alleged.

The Ghana Mine Workers Union (GMWU) has, however, described the petition to President Kufuor as unnecessary because they negotiated with GGL for their severance pay, which was duly paid to them in 1999.

Speaking to the Chronicle, the ex-workers said sometime in 1999, management of GGL informed them that they had decided to suspend the underground mine due to the drastic fall in world price of gold which was making them run at a loss.

According to the workers, their management after informing them gave them two conditions - one was that should gold regain its value on the international market they would recall them to begin underground mining.

Management of GGL also assured them that they would transfer the workers to work at their surface mining site, which was about to begin.

The workers further told Chronicle that whilst they were at home as ordered by their management, GMWU negotiated on their behalf with management resulting in a $20 upward adjustment of their salaries across board.

According to the workers, management later told them that the underground mine has finally been closed down and that they have been laid-off.

They further said when they approached their management led by Mr. Alex Boonzaaier, the human resource manager, for their severance pay, they were told that the ?1 million and ?4 million they had earlier received was their severance pay and that managemant do not owe them.

Quoting from the collective bargaining agreement they signed with the company, the workers said in the event of a possible redundancy the company shall give their union three months notice after which they would enter into discussions with the company on the matter.

The workers argued that they did not receive any notice from management, as spelt out in the collective agreement, yet GGL is claiming the small amount that was paid to them whilst they were at home is their severance pay.

According to the workers, it is their belief that they have been cheated by management of GGL and, therefore, wanted to send the case to court but they later decided to petition the President first for an amicable settlement should this fail, we will be left with no option but to proceed to court, they added.

When contacted, a source at GMWU headoffice at Tarkwa told Chronicle that the union was informed by management of GGL that the underground section of the Tarkwa mine was no longer viable and that it has become necessary for them to retrench up to 1,000 employees.

The source further told Chronicle, with the necessary documentary evidence that based on this information, they set up a standing joint negotiating team with GGL and after a series of meetings the two parties agreed that a worker declared redundant should be paid an amount equivalent to 20% of his terminal basic rate of pay per year of employment with GGL.

It was also agreed that all outstanding monies due the worker plus his Provident Fund benefits are paid to him.

The source said it was also agreed that the three months notice referred to in the Collective Agreement be deemed to have expired on the date of signature of the agreement reached between the union and GGL.

According to the source, the Labour Office who were part of the negotiating team later wrote a letter dated July 27, 1999 to the workers local union, the sector minister and the General Secretary of Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) notifying them about the agreement reached with GGL management on behalf of the workers.

The source further said each worker was later paid according to the terms of the agreement reached with GGL.

"We are, therefore, surprised that these workers after having collected the money could turn around later to say that they have not been paid their severance pay," added the source.