Scores of mineworkers at the Tarkwa Mines of Goldfields Ghana Limited, this morning, embarked on a demonstration against the company’s ongoing redundancy exercise in which about 2,000 workers are expected to be laid off.
The demonstration by the workers of the Tarkwa Mines in the Western region is in line with a two-week nationwide strike action declared by the leadership of the Ghana Mineworkers Union (GMWU) last week to protest the redundancy plan.
The Union declared that the action would begin from March 13 to 27, 2018, amidst the hoisting of red flags, sympathy strikes by all workers in the mining industry, as well as a full-blown general industry-wide strike action by March 27, 2018.
As part of this morning’s demonstration, the workers, who wore red head and armbands, chanted war songs. They also held placards that expressed their resentment about the ongoing layoffs.
The strike action is aimed at prompting all stakeholders, especially the government to intervene to prevent the redundancy exercise which the Union is also challenging in court.
The Union declared its intention to embark on strike after the Accra High labour Court rejected the Union’s motion for an interlocutory injunction to prevent Goldfields Ghana Limited from undertaking the redundancy exercise until the final determination of the case.
According to the presiding Judge, Justice Laurenda Owusu, the mining company risks losing more if the court halted the ongoing layoffs before a determination of the substantive matter on whether they acted within the law.
The redundancy exercise is a result of a contract mining model the company has adopted as part of its business restructuring programme.
The GMWU had earlier petitioned Parliament and the Presidency exercise which it said had not followed appropriate procedure, but criticised the government’s continued silence on the matter.
By Nii Adotey/adrdaily.com
