The Accra Labour High Court adjudicating the case against the planned large scale redundancy exercise by Goldfields Ghana Limited, has set March 2, 2018 to rule on the matter.
According to the Court, presided over by Justice Laurenda Owusu, it will rely on the relevant provisions in civil procedure rules, CI 47, and all the processes filed by the parties to deliver its judgement.
The Ghana Mine Workers Union is praying the Court to disallow the redundancy exercise by Goldfields in which over 1,700 workers would be laid off, describing the plan as unjustified and illegal.
The suit, which is fully backed by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), was initiated in December last year by the Union after Goldfields announced the redundancy exercise, which the company said was a result of a contract mining model it had adopted.
At the hearing on Tuesday, Charles Bawaduah, lead counsel for the applicants, expressed satisfaction at the decision and directions of the court.
Per the writ, the mineworkers are praying the court to restrain Goldfields from going ahead with the intended redundancy exercise until all the stakeholders involved “have concluded or negotiated on whether the exercise can be averted, and if not, the category of workers to be affected and measures to minimize the impact on workers.’’
They are also seeking a declaration from the court that the redundancy exercise is “unlawful” because the reasons given by the mining giant to lay them off do not meet the “requirements, conditions or grounds for redundancy, as provided by Section 65 of the Labour Act, 2013, Act 651.”
The workers further want the court to declare that the purported authorization of the redundancy exercise by the Chief Labour Officer as “illegal, unlawful, null and void.’’
By Nii Adotey/adrdaily.com
