AngloGold Senior Staffs Unionised

Obuasi (Ash), Oct.08, GNA - More than 600 senior staffs of the AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi Mine have announced their membership of the Ghana Mineworkers Union (GMWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) after over 100 years of the existence of the Mine. With the formation of the Professional and Managerial Staffs Union (PMSU) of the GMWU, the Senior Staffs have now become unionised workers as the junior staff of the Company, 65 years after the formation of the GMWU.

Conditions of service in the Mine over the years prevented the Senior Staffs from belonging to a union and thereby suffered a number of labour injustices including promotion frustrations and unjustifiable dismissals.

The Union, which has an eight-member executive with representation from all the sections of the Mine, has Mr Seidu Adam Bogobiri as the Chairman. Other members include Charles Owusu, Deputy Chairman; Samuel A. Dwamenah, Secretary; Isaac Newton Kusi, Deputy Secretary; Collins Ankomah, First Trustee; Eric Obeng Foshuhene, Second Trustee; M.C. Turkson, Chaplain and Doris Apem, Women Representative. Mr Prince William Ankrah, the General Secretary of the GMWU, who inaugurated the PMSU, admitted that the mining industry had suffered from the colonial legacy of senior and junior workers being persistently managed through divide and rule employees relations strategy. He said senior members easily had their appointments terminated without following any well-structured disciplinary procedures. Mr Ankrah, therefore, welcomed the entire members of the PMSU into there fold and pledged the GMWU's readiness to offer them excellent services beyond the traditional collective bargaining terrain. Some of such serviced would relate to job security; career development; dependant educational scholarships and other internal specific welfare schemes.

The GMWU General Secretary used the occasion to challenge the corporate office of AngloGold Ashanti to explore long-term solutions to the normal business uncertainties confronting it rather than the short-term approach of persistent labour redundancies. Mr Dwamenah called on the members to strategise to deepen the safety records at workplaces and also to ensure environmentally friendly production practices to sustain and prolong the lifespan of the Mine. He urged his colleagues to start a new roadmap of effective, efficient and dynamic supervision and managerial skills to increase production at a lower production cost to maximise profits, he said. Mr Y.B. Amponsah, the General Manager, said 10 years ago nobody talked about unionising the senior workers of the Mine but now we see an opportunity to expand the growth of workers participation in the working environment of the Company.

The inaugural ceremony was attended by Dr C.Y. Brempong-Yeboah, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and NEPAD; Mr Kwasi Adu Amankwah, Secretary General of TUC, and Assistant Chief Labour Officer, Mr B.A. Bosompem.