Sunon Asogli’s statement on unionisation full of factual inaccuracies; company doesn’t respect NLC — GMWU

The Ghana Mineworkers’ Union of the Trades Union Congress (Ghana) has accused Sunon Asogli Power (Ghana) Limited Company of a lack of respect for the National Labour Commission and regulatory institutions in the country.

Last Week, Sunon Asogli issued a press release to address matters relating to unionisation at the company and the sacking of three employees.

In the release, the company said the allegations by GMWU and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) that it is against unionisation of workers are false.

“Sunon Asogli is not and has never been against unionization. Indeed, the company is aware of the right of our employees under the 1992 Constitution of Ghana and the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651), to join a union. The issue has been about the procedure and approach adopted by the Ghana Mine Workers’ Union (“GMWU” or “the Union”),” part of the release from the company said.

The release further explained, “It has been our position right from the onset when the Union wrote to us, that we cannot enter into an agreement or negotiate with people we do not know, and that when the Labour Law talks about ‘‘THE WORKER’’ it is referring to a particular individual. We, therefore, requested that the Union should furnish us with the list of workers who had applied to join the Union, but for close to two years, the Union refused.”

Sunon Asogli also insisted that it believes in doing things in an orderly manner, and it is the respect for due process that has sustained the Company over the years.

Reacting to the release, the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union said it is amazed by the depth of factual inaccuracies, misrepresentations and fabrications in the statement.

The Union argued that since the unionisation matter came up, the posture of Sunon Asogli has always been one that is a law onto itself.

“It is important to note that at all material time, the posturing of the management of Sunon Asogli has been one that is a law unto itself. They do not respect or comply with decisions of the National Labour Commission and regulatory institutions, and would arrogate to itself powers of statutory bodies that they do not have,” the GMWU release dated May 7 said.

The release adds that it is shameful that Sunon Asogli cites section 131 of the Labour Act and goes on to try and skew the facts in order to impugn the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union and question the professionalism of its leadership.

It explains that what the company deliberately failed to do is to let the public know that the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union did not attempt or burst into the company in an attempt to negotiate for the interest of workers.

On the termination of contract of three Sunon Asogli employees, GMWU strongly believes that it is a complete injustice characterised by an anti-union employer whose sole agenda is to prevent trade unions from operating at the workplace.

“The decision of the company to terminate the employment of three local union leaders was not only premeditated, ill-conceived and borne out of its hatred for unions, it has always been part of a grand scheme by the company right from the outset of the unionization to victimize, intimidate and dismiss any worker(s) found to be associated with the union in order to truncate the unionization process and prevent the union from coming into being,” the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union release shared.

The Ghana Mineworkers’ Union in its release emphasises that it has never conducted itself unlawfully throughout the unionisation process and there is ample evidence to that effect.

The union says it expects Sunon Asogli to be law-abiding by respecting the rights of Ghanaian workers to form and join unions of their choice as well as the rights of trade unions to freely operate at the workplace.

Read the full release below:
GHANA MINEWORKERS’ UNION OF THE TRADES UNION CONGRESS (GHANA)

PRESS STATEMENT
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RESPONSE TO SUNON ASOGLI’S POSITION ON MATTERS RELATING TO UNIONIZATION DATED MAY 4, 2023 BY THE GHANA MINEWORKERS’ UNION OF THE TRADES UNION CONGRESS (GHANA)

The attention of the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union (GMWU) of TUC(Ghana) has been drawn to a press statement issued on May 4, 2023 by Sunon Asogli Power (Ghana) Limited captioned “Sunon Asogli’s Position on Matters Relating to Unionization”.

Ghana Mineworkers’ Union would like to state that it is not only surprised by the absolute duplicity of the company right from the outset of the unionization process, it is also amazed by the depth of factual inaccuracies, misrepresentations and fabrications in the statement.

Ghana Mineworkers’ Union and by extension the TUC, would like to use this opportunity to correct some factual inaccuracies, misrepresentations and fabrications put out there by the company.

As we stated in our press statement of March 3, 2023 captioned “Sunon Asogli Workers Unionization: Disregard for the Fundamental Rights of Workers, Company Threats, Interference, Unfair Termination and Disrespect to National Institutions”, it is important to reiterate that the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union and the workers of Sunon Asogli Power (Ghana) Limited went through the necessary legal processes to acquire a Collective Bargaining Certificate that empowers the Union to represent and negotiate with the Company on behalf of the workers. At every material time during the unionization process, the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union did not only adopt the procedure and approach required by the law, it worked collaboratively with regulatory institutions of the state including the Labour Department of Ghana.

It was, therefore, not surprising that when the same claims of the company bordering on the list of the workers and the Collective Bargaining Certificate ended up, at the National Labour Commission, the Commission on two occasions Directed and Ruled that management’s demand for the list of the unionized workers did not arise at that stage of the unionization process and that the Certificate was properly and legally acquired so the Company should comply and enter negotiations with the Union. The Commission did not end there, it also made it clear to Sunon Asogli that it was frustrating the unionization process and violating the rights of the workers to form and join trade unions of their choice, as guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, the Labour Act and ILO Conventions 87 and 98.

Instead of respecting the orders and directives of the National Labour Commission, the Company and its lawyers, in their usual belligerent and anti-union fashion, disregarded the decisions of the Commission with impunity and rather resorted to acts of abuse, intimidation and victimization of workers for the simple decision taken by these workers to join a union of their choice and to freely exercise their fundamental rights of freedom of association and collective bargaining.

It is shameful that the company cites section 131 of the Labour Act and goes on to try and skew the facts in order to impugn the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union and question the professionalism of its leadership. What the company deliberately failed to do is to let the public know that the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union did not attempt or “burst into the company”. The Ghana Mineworkers’ Union, as a law-abiding trade union organization, with over seventy years of experience in industrial relations relied on section 129 of the same Labour Act, the very law the company referenced, and wrote on three (3) different occasions to the company requesting to meet its members but the company blatantly refused because the Management of the company has been hell-bent on frustrating unionization process from the outset and, therefore, would not respect the rights of workers and trade unions to operate at the workplace.

The meeting of February 17, 2023 the company referred to in its statement was strictly at the instance of the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union, it took place in a public space close to the company’s gate and all the workers who stopped by to listen to us were off-duty. The right of the Union to meet its members, in accordance with section 129 of the Labour Act, was refused three times and the Union decided to meet its members after close of work in a public space close to the company’s premises and that cannot be described as an unlawful industrial action. In fact, the decision of the company to turn down the Union’s request to meet its members, despite several calls to management, has always been part of the company’s grand scheme and tactics to frustrate the unionization process.

Again, it is very difficult to understand why the company prides itself as one that does things in an orderly manner and goes on to cite the existence of two unions (i.e., an enterprise-based union and the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union) as an indication of its respect for due process and respect for the rights of workers to join or form a union. It is important to state for the records that the purported enterprise-based union which includes Chinese nationals was hurriedly formed by the management of the company only a few weeks ago as part of its preparations to put out its press statement of 4th May 2023 in order to hide behind that and present itself in a good light as a law-abiding organization that respects the rights of workers.

It is important to note that at all material time, the posturing of the management of Sunon Asogli has been one that is a law unto itself. They do not respect or comply with decisions of the National Labour Commission and regulatory institutions, and would arrogate to itself powers of statutory bodies that they do not have. It is, therefore, not surprising that once again, the company in its press statement of 4th May 2023 arrogates to itself the powers of a Chief Labour Officer in clear contravention of section 99(4) of the Labour Act and Regulation 10 of LI 1833 to declare the majority for its sponsored union and minority for the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union. Of course, unless Sunon Asogli acted in ignorance or is seeking to mislead the public, Sunon Asogli knows for a fact that it has absolutely no locus whatsoever to conduct verification and to declare which union is the majority or the minority, assuming the purported company-sponsored union/association was anything to go by.

On the termination of the three local union leaders, we want to remind the company that labour is not a commodity that you buy off the shelve, use and dump at free will without any consequences. We want to reiterate that Sunon Asogli did not only disrespect and disregard the National Labour Commission’s directive of March 1, 2023 to both parties to “stay all ongoing and/or any intended action(s)” “intended strike by the Complainant Union, the issuance of queries and the request for responses to same by the Respondent Management, including any other action(s) that may be directly or indirectly related to the issue(s) in dispute”, but the company proceeded against the Commission’s directive to wrongfully terminate the appointments of the three (3) union leaders without notice and without recourse to due processes and procedures enshrined in the Employees’ General Conditions of Service just because these innocent brothers decided to join a trade union and were elected by their fellow workers at the enterprise level to lead them.

The inconsistency here is that on one hand, Sunon Asogli claims to be law-abiding and respects the rights of workers but on the other hand the same company supplants the General Conditions of Service that regulate the employment relationship between the company and its employees, disregards its own internal processes and procedures, and proceeds to dismiss its employees some of whom have worked for the company for over ten years in such a careless manner under the guise that an employment contract is not servitude when the General Conditions of Service provides clear procedures on how you arrive at a decision to either terminate or dismiss a worker. After all these naked abuses, Sunon Asogli still has the courage to turn around and question GMWU’s procedure and approach which by all standards remain legitimate.

We want to reiterate that the Local Union Chairperson, Secretary and Assistant Secretary have not committed a crime and they have not broken any company rules. The only “crime” they have committed, according to the Management of Sunon Asogli, is that they have decided to join a trade union of their choice to protect their social and economic interests, in accordance with the Constitution of Ghana, the Labour Act 2003 (Act 651) and International Labour Organization’s Conventions 87 and 98 which have been ratified by Ghana.

This is a complete injustice and it is characteristic of an anti-union employer whose sole agenda is to prevent trade unions from operating at the workplace. The decision of the company to terminate the employment of three local union leaders was not only premeditated, ill-conceived and borne out of its hatred for unions, it has always been part of a grand scheme by the company right from the outset of the unionization to victimize, intimidate and dismiss any worker(s) found to be associated with the union in order to truncate the unionization process and prevent the union from coming into being.

It is, therefore, not surprising that immediately after the list of unionized workers was submitted to Sunon Asogli, not only were the three local union leaders immediately dismissed, the rest of the unionized workers are being subjected to various acts of intimidation, victimization and abuse by the Management of the company. Local union executives have been forcefully asked to either rescind their decision to remain in the union or face termination of employment, all team leaders who have opted to join the union have been relieved of their duties and taken off company platforms where production-related matters are discussed, all unionized employees are being asked to quit the union so that their salaries can be increased in return, unionized workers are being transferred from their departments to other departments where they have not been trained to work, among others. Now we know why management of the company was desperately demanding the list of unionized workers for the Union.

The TUC, the umbrella body of trade unions in Ghana led by its Secretary General, is fully apprised of the issues between GMWU and Sunon Asogli contrary to the unguarded and derogatory claims made by the company in its press statement of 4th May 2023 against the TUC. Indeed, it is against this background that the TUC Secretary General accepted to be part of a team constituted by the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations to help deal with the matter. On 24th April 2023 when the team met both parties, the leadership of GMWU and management of Sunon Asogli, a number of issues were discussed which required Sunon Asogli to have reverted to the Minister and his team on 25th April 2023. Till date, Sunon Asogli has not reverted with feedback on the issues discussed and there is no indication that it would revert with any such feedback. Indeed, the team led by the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations have so far not been able to make any meaningful progress because of the company’s lacklustre attitude towards a peaceful and amicable resolution of the impasse.

TUC is open and committed to seeking an amicable settlement of the matter, but it is important to state that the actions by Sunon Asogli remain unfair and unjust, no matter how the company chooses to twist and spin the facts. The pronouncements and actions by the TUC Secretary General and the TUC are factual and unadulterated and cannot be laced with falsehood and distortions as the company choses to describe it. Indeed, the members of the public are decerning and should be able to determine whether the GMWU and by extension TUC is law-abiding and one that stands up to bullies or Sunon Asogli is anti-union, an oppressor and one that disrespects workers’ rights.

We want to state that the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union has never conducted itself unlawfully throughout this unionization process and there is ample evidence to that effect. Indeed, the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union, as a law-abiding organization, has not only complied with the laws of Ghana, it has cooperated and collaborated with the institutions of state throughout the unionization process. We want to state categorically that the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union and the TUC do not and will not tolerate employers who are out there to suppress and oppress the rights and liberties of workers. Therefore, if by this resolve, Sunon Asogli finds the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union as “arrogant, aggressive and uncompromising”, that is unfortunate. The Ghana Mineworkers’ Union and the TUC will continue to respect the rights of Sunon Asogli as an employer. Similarly, we expect Sunon Asogli to be law-abiding by respecting the rights of Ghanaian workers to form and join unions of their choice as well as the rights of trade unions to freely operate at the workplace.

Long Live the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union
Long Live the Trades Union Congress (Ghana)
Long Live International Workers’ Solidarity

Long Live the Republic of Ghana
ACCRA, 7^TH MAY 2023