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Ex-GGL workers demand full payment of
benefits
Takoradi, July 30, Ghanadot/GNA - Over
700 former miners at Tarawa said on Monday that refusal by
management of Gold Fields Ghana Limited (GGL) to pay them
their full end-of-service package and to operate the
underground mine is costing the nation several millions of
cedis.
They said the management of GGL deliberately abandoned the
underground mining to enable them concentrate on surface
operations.
Mr. William Agyei Atinka, Chairman of the GGL ex-workers
association, accused management of GGL and Mine Workers
Union of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) at a press
conference of manipulating the 1996 Collective Bargaining
Agreement (CBA).
Mr. Atinka said they were paid between 1.5 million cedis
(150 Ghana cedis) and three million cedis (300 Ghana cedis)
and all efforts made to retrieve the outstanding amounts had
failed.
He said though management said the underground mine was not
feasible at that time, it was only aimed at deceiving the
workers and appealed to the government to investigate who
ordered the closure of the underground mine at Tarkwa and
the wrongful termination of their appointment.
Mr. Atinka said though the company had established some
alternative livelihood projects for affected communities,
they were not beneficiaries of the package.
He said sometime ago a new company, Annan Gold Resources,
started rehabilitating the underground shafts and other
equipment but left the site and has since not been seen.
Mr. Atinka said State Gold Mining Corporation built a clinic
and vocational centre for the people in 1993 but management
of GGL privatised the hospital, handed over the school to
the Ghana Education Service and closed down the vocational
centre.
A statement signed by Mr. Johan Botha, General Manager of
GGL said the company obtained a fiat to close down the
underground mine in 1999 after studies showed mining
operations were not viable.
It said surface operations had proved successful and had
provided opportunity for growth.
GNA
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