Contract workers at Ghana Bauxite Mining threaten walkout over poor work conditions

2019-03-18

Mar. 18, 2019 - Labor unrest threatens production at Ghana Bauxite Mining Company Limited, as contract employees pledged to walk off the job unless and until working conditions improve at the site.

Per labor spokesperson Issahaku Yakabu, management at the plant is not paying into the country’s Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) as safety conditions continue to deteriorate at the site.

Yakubu continued by saying that working conditions have become progressively worse throughout the eight years the site has been in operation. Though half a dozen of workers at the site have accepted an invitation to the company’s headquarters in Accra for negotiations, he said that a three- to six-month strike is likely if they do not return with a better labor arrangement.

Per local reporting, Ghana Bauxite Company Limited has long been a loss-making enterprise. The Rio Tinto company has allegedly been in the red from 2003 through 2009 despite a leadership change in the person of J.K. Fang and his appointment to the board of directors.

The company has had a turn-around in recent years, posting a profit of US$4,020,000 in 2015 and US$3,400,000 in 2017. However, Fang is cited as saying that this margin is insufficient for his firm to afford payment of corporate taxes due to prior years’ losses.

Ghana sits atop a vast cache of some of the highest-quality bauxite ore ever discovered. However, political and economic problems have long thwarted efforts by both local interests and overseas buyers to establish large-scale extraction operations. Cultivating a strong integrated aluminium sector has been a goal of Akufo-Addo since his inauguration two years ago, following up on promises of the same along the campaign trail.