Ex-casual workers of AGA want transparency in compensation payment

Obuasi, Dec 14, GNA- A section of ex-casual workers of AngloGold Ashanti (AGA) had staged a protest against the mode of payment of their compensation by the company.

The workers numbering over 1,000 were laid off some time ago without=

any reason, even though some had worked for over 10 years. As a result they entered into a legal battle with AGA for compensati= on payment and won but the money instead of being paid to them individually was given to their leadership.

"As of now, we do not know the total amount paid by AGA to our leade= rs, as well as documents covering the payment, Mr John Erzuah, the spokespers= on, told a press conference at Obuasi on Tuesday.

He said they were only demanding transparency in the mode of payment=

and advised the ex-workers to go about the protest without threats and violence. "We are not going to apply threats in our quest to know the truth surrounding this whole transaction", he added.

Mr Erzuah said they had appealed to the Commission on Human Right an= d Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate the matter. The Spokesperson said AGA had a system of making such payments with every person having his payment voucher on the Company's letter head together with a pay slip but "this time around there is nothing like that= " as the leaders had prepared their own payment document headed "discharge and release." Mr Erzuah said "our leaders are not making things open to us" and th= at is why "we want CHRAJ to come in."

He said we were made to understand that surface workers would receiv= e GH¢2,000 whilst underground workers would get GH¢2,800, but the leade= rs are now paying GH¢1,604.00 and GH¢1,946.44 respectively. Mr Erzuah said he was confident that the whole country would come to=

know of the full facts. 14 Dec. 10