MONROVIA – At long last, the Government of Liberia (GOL), through the Ministry of Labour has resolved the dispute between the Management of Bea Mountain Mining Company operating in Kinjor, Grand Cape Mount County and its Workers Union, with a mandate to increase the salaries of the employees by ten percent.
By Obediah Johnson
It can be recalled that on June 4 this year, the ministry received a complaint from the management of the company against the leadership of its local workers union for initiating a strike action.
The local union, representing the entire workforce of BMMC/CMC staged the strike action following the failure of the company’s management to respond to a 23-count resolution submitted.
Paramount amount the issues raised in the resolution were: change of employment status, provision of housing allowance, and salary increment, among others.
But in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by both parties, a copy which is in the possession of FrontPage Africa, the management of BMMC/CMC agreed to give the amount of US$25 to employees who have not been given housing from now to June 1, 2025.
The management also resolved to ensure that all employees residing in the camp or residing in BMMC/CMC facilities will be excluded from receiving the amount, including those covered on the Resettlement Action Plan that received housing units.
The company’s management also agreed to increase all local workers’ salaries to 10% beginning from now to June 1, 2025 with immediate effect.
According to the MOU, “any increment during the incoming CBA renewal shall not be applied to this period.”
The agreement further warned against the witch-hunting of employees as a result of the strike action cut-off.
It also mandated the Departments of Labour Standards and Trade Unions to request from the management of the company the personnel listing of all workers of BMMC/CMC for onward verification and arrange meetings to discuss the other counts as of June 15, 2023.
The MOU was signed by the leadership of the local workers union of the company Chaired by Emmanuel Weedor, and approved by the Chairman of the company Mr. Sam G. Roberts.
It was crafted following the series of meetings held between the aggrieved parties by authorities of the Ministries of Labour, Internal Affairs and the Liberia National Police.
The meetings were aimed at resolving the strike action.
Payment of AML workers
At the same time, the government has resolved the payment of salary arrears owed employees of AFCONS, a local company contracted by Arcelor Mittal Liberia.
After several months of mediation by government through the Ministry of Labor, 646 former and current workers of the company are now being paid US$373,002 for unexpired term of their employment contract.
It can be recalled that during the Ebola crisis in 2014, AFCONS lay off nearly 700 workers with the understanding that they would be the first to be re-employed following the resumption of work after the crisis.
However, the company failed to live up to the commitment to recall those workers to complete their respective contracts, but went ahead and employed a new set of workers.
The Ministry of Labour ruled in favor of the aggrieved workers that AFCONS should settle the remaining term of their employment contract since it failed to employ them.
Under the supervision of the ministry, the payment of the 646 workers from Nimba County which commenced over the weekend is expected to be completed this week.