An industry-wide strike action is expected to hit the country’s mining sector beginning Tuesday, March 13, 2018.
The strike action, which has been affirmed by the National Executive Council of Ghana Mineworkers’ Union of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), is reportedly in solidarity with affected workers at Goldfields Tarkwa Mine in the Western Region.
A release issued to BUSINESS GUIDE on Wednesday by the General Secretary of the Mineworkers’ Union, Prince William Ankrah, said as a result of the adverse impact of the action taken by management of Gold Fields Ghana Limited to lay off about 2,150 workers, the Executive Council of the Union called an emergency council meeting on March 6, 2018 at Tarkwa to extensively deliberate on the Gold Fields issue.
It said the council resolved that “there should be hoisting and wearing of red bands by all workers in the mining industry, beginning Tuesday, March 13, 2018.”
According to the statement, “There shall be a sympathy strike action by all workers in the mining industry on Tuesday, March 20, 2018.
“There would be full-blown general industry-wide strike action by Tuesday March 27, 2018.”
“Meanwhile, the union is also initiating international campaign on the matter by publishing the dossier on the matter on the various stock exchanges of the company, petition the ILO and call international solidarity support from its sister unions in South Africa, as well as other global union federations since the powers that be could not resolve the matter internally.”
Ghana Mineworkers’ Union and Gold Fields Ghana Limited have since November been in dispute over the legitimacy of the company to adopt contract mining instead of the current owner mining model.
The leadership of the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union of Trades Union Congress (TUC) has also criticized the ruling of the High Court in the case involving aggrieved mineworkers and management of Goldfields Company Limited.
By Melvin Tarlue