The General Secretary of the Ghana Mineworkers Union (GMWU), Prince William Ankrah has described demands for special compensation by some former workers of Anglogold Ashanti Ghana Limited, Obuasi Mine as needless.
He accused the former employees of using forged documents with signatories to perpetuate their actions, and indicated that there is even a case in court against them on the matter.
“If there is any payment whatsoever that they claim had been unpaid other than what they forged with signatories, then they can pinpoint it to AGA for AGA to pay them,” he stated.
On Monday, members of a group calling itself the 2013/14 Dislocated Workers Group of Anglogold Ashanti Ghana Limited, Obuasi Mine; staged a protest in Accra, demanding for the payment of what they claim as special compensation owed them by Anglogold Ashanti (AGA).
The group which maintains that it has about 4,000 affected ex-workers wants the current administration of AGA to pay them their special compensation ranging between $60,000 and $125,000 based on the number of years one has worked there.
But the General Secretary of the GMWU told ADR Daily in an interview that, a deal was reached in good faith between the then management of AGA and the affected workers, which led to the payment of all entitlement as contained in the collective bargaining agreement.
“It’s all fake, and I don’t know where they are coming from, they have been to many places and have been told the fact, and they don’t want to hear it. So for me, I am at a loss for what they are exactly looking for?” he said.
In 2014, the Obuasi Mine made a business case to the GMWU for an urgent Business Process Re-engineering (BPR), critical for the survival of the mine.
As a result, the company undertook a number of internal restructuring exercises, rendering particular job positions redundant, with the view to arriving at an optimum workforce size.
According to a statement issued in 2015 by the GMWU on the matter, it explained that in line with the restructuring exercise, the Standing Negotiation Committee (SNC) was instituted and a series of meetings were held on measures to be taken to avert or minimize the possibility of termination flowing from the restructuring, after which union and management agreed on measures to mitigate the adverse effects of the unavoidable terminations.
Thereafter, a package was mutually agreed upon and payments were made accordingly.
By Benjamin Nana Appiah/adrdaily.com