Mineworkers castigate Newmont lay offs

The Ghana Mine Workers Union (GMWU) has indicated that it will not accept reasons proffered by Newmont as basis for the retrenchment of about 600 employees.

The union, in a statement issued recently by Prince William Ankrah, its General Secretary, said it was convinced that frequent industrial conflicts do not only affect companies and workers, but impoverish communities as a whole.

The union said while factual evidence available showed a vibrant business outlook for Newmont on a pedestal of growth and progress, the company intends to carry out the redundancy exercise.

“Consequently, GMWU is daring Newmont Ghana Gold Limited that any attempt to unilaterally issue out redundancy letters to employees whilst the case is pending at the National Labour Commission (NLC) will be met with a strike action,” the statement stated.

The union further expressed concern about situations whereby courtesy calls and visits permitted by the President and traditional leaders were being used by multinationals, including Newmont Ghana Gold Limited as endorsement of their business decisions.

The mineworkers, meanwhile, said they had fully co-operated with all companies that had built a convincing business case, which warranted labour rationalization, adding that their intervention had facilitated a massive in-flow of foreign capital into the industry from all over the world.

It added that although GMWU was aware that some foreign factors sometimes pose difficulties to companies; the union would not condone and agree with organizations that decide to exploit turbulent instances to the disadvantage of the rights of workers.

So far more than 3,500 employees have exited the mining industry in Ghana as a result of redundancy exercises carried out by their employers.

In the case of Newmont’s Ahafo operations, 400 employees have been affected.