Mine Workers Resist Gold Fields Contract Mining Tactics

Ghana Mineworkers Union (GMWU) has urged government to stop mining firm, Gold Fields Limited from implementing its proposed contract mining at its Tarkwa Mine in the Western Region.

The call was contained in a resolution passed by the National Executive Council of GMWU of Trades Union Congress (TUC) on December 14, 2017.

Gold Fields Limited is reportedly planning to lay off a total of 1,700 workers from its Tarkwa Mine in the Western Region.

The move to lay off workers is due to a scheduled shift from owner mining to contractual mining at Gold Fields Tarkwa Mine.

But the National Executive Council of the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union, which held a meeting in Accra from December 13-14, 201, resolved among other things that “government and the industry stakeholders must as a matter of urgency take immediate actions to halt the implementation of Gold Fields Ghana Limited's contract mining decision because there is no logical business case to warrant such a model at this time, considering the potential socio-economic consequences on workers and their families, the Tarkwa community and the nation as a whole.”

According to the Union, “There is a creeping phenomenon of unconventional methods of mining that support short term profiteering motives of multinationals in the mining industry but with long term ramifications on the Life of Mine and future of the stakeholders, particularly workers, host communities and the nation as a whole.”

The Union said that “government and its regulatory agencies, together with the industry's stakeholders, must re-examine the implementation of the Stability Agreement with the view to eliminating the 'non-compete clause', which has given an unfair competitive advantage to a few large-scale companies at the expense of others. We believe that an equal playing field is the way to go.”

Furthermore, the Union commented: “Government and its regulatory agencies must, as a matter of priority, subject Gold Fields Ghana Limited's assertions and factual inaccuracies to critical scrutiny and where falsehood is established, the necessary sanctions and penalties duly applied to serve as a deterrent to multinationals who operate in the industry.

“Government and its regulatory agencies, together with the industry's stakeholders, must re examine the implementation of the Stability Agreement with the view to eliminating the 'non-compete clause,' which has given an unfair competitive advantage to a few large scale companies at the expense of others. We believe that an equal playing field is the way to go,” it said.

By Melvin Tarlue