Mineworkers Fight Goldfields Over retrenchment, Petitions Parliament

The Mine Workers Union of Ghana has appealed to Parliament to intervene in the retrenchment exercise currently being executed by Goldfields Ghana limited.

A total of 1,700 workers of the company have so far been laid off.

Secretary to the Union, Prince William Ankrah said the workers cannot accept the reasons given by Goldfields Ghana Limited for the retrenchment exercise.

According to him the reasons alluded to by the company were inconsistent with the realities on the ground.

He stated that records available indicates that, contrary to the claim by the company that the lifespan of the mine was 5-6 years, it actually has over 15 years of mine lifespan as published on the company’s website.

Mr. Ankrah therefore suggested that the company’s counter claim was misleading.

The Workers are therefore urging Parliament to institute a probe into the activities of Goldfields.

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.

“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.

Goldfields Ghana Limited had indicated 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.

The petition was received on behalf of the Speaker of Parliament by Majority leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu and supported by the Minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu, Chairman and Ranking Member of the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament.

By: Christian Kpesese/ thePublisher