Ghana mineworkers’ union to hold delegates confab

The Ghana Mineworkers’ Union of the Trade Union Congress will hold its 11th quadrennial delegates conference in the Western Region town of Tarkwa from August 24 to 28, 2015.

The conference will be on the theme: “Rethinking the remuneration landscape in the mining industry: critical perspective(s) for change.”

The General Secretary of the union, Mr Prince William Ankrah said in a statement to the Ghana News Agency on Thursday that, the theme will focus on the pay challenges in the mining sector.

Delegates are expected to ponder the huge income disparities in the industry and come out with new thinking on how to retain critical skills in Ghana’s mining sector.

“This will help avoid flight of such critical skills across the borders, where Ghana in the near future will struggle to attract such skills back into the Ghanaian mining economy sector,” Mr Ankrah.

Prof. J S.Y. Kuma, Vice Chancellor, University of Mines and Technology, UMaT, Tarkwa, may deliver the keynote address whilst industry experts would make presentations on various thematic areas.

Other topics include, skills and income mismatch in the mining industry: a time to inquest into the missing fundamentals and Local content integration into the production and beneficiation chain in the mining industry: going beyond rhetoric to quantifiable results.

The rest are trade union power and the new rights struggle: the role of today's trade unionist and the Benefits of Employee Engagement in the 21st Century Workplace.

Mr Ankrah said the outcome of the presentations will constitute the basis for a policy pursuance in the next quadrennial.

More than 350 delegates of the union’s Branch and Professional and Managerial Staff Unions will also evaluate activities for the past four years and develop various policies for implementation in the next quadrennial.

He said the national officers of the union would be elected at the time the mining sector is confronted with several business hurdles, such as scaling down of the AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi operations, with its attendant constraint; fluctuating gold price, outsourcing, increasing redundancies as well as coping with unionism in a pluralistic labour environment.

“The leadership of the union strongly believes that it has what takes through its valued members to offer its contributions in making the mining sector continue to take its space in the economic development of Ghana,” Mr Ankrah said.

Alongside the quadrennial, will be the 5th National Women’s Delegates Conference on the theme “Count Us In.”