Full text: Ghana Mineworkers’ Union of TUC-Ghana address at Executive Council meeting
Source: myjoyonline

Comrade Chair, Secretary General of the TUC (Ghana), Distinguished National Executive Council Members, Executives of our Business Wing, Colleagues from the Media Fraternity, Ladies and Gentlemen. It is an honour and a privilege to address this august gathering again on the occasion of the second-half National Executive Council meeting for the year 2025. On behalf of the Management Committee of our great Union and on my own behalf, let me take this opportunity to welcome all Council members to the Ghana Shippers Council Auditorium, Accra, for the second-half NEC meeting. Comrades, as we are all aware, our meeting here in Accra for today and tomorrow is in fulfilment of the Constitution of the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union. These two days of deliberations would therefore focus on reviewing the activities of the Union for the second half of the year 2025 and also afford us the opportunity to discuss some issues of industry, national and global importance. My address would therefore touch on a number of these issues and how they impact on our work as a trade union and society in general. General Industry Update/Outlook Comrade Chair, unlike other sectors which were hit and are still struggling to recover since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the global gold industry and by extension the mining industry in general has stood out as the utmost beneficiary of this global health crisis. Indeed, amidst other geopolitical developments, gold price has trended upwards from a pandemic price of over $1800 year-on-year and reaching an unprecedented high of $4000 in the course of the year. Indeed, over the period, the economics of most mineral assets have improved, and general mining investment in the sector has surged, resulting in the projected growth in gold production from 4.8 million ounces to 5.1 million, accompanied by the opening of new mining companies such as Cardinal Namdini, Newmont Ahafo North, and Heath Goldfields Bogoso-Prestea Mine. Comrade Chair, given the unprecedented surge in gold price and the colossal gains most mining companies continue to make, we expect that mining companies would take very good care of workers, our members, even as they invest in modern infrastructure and expand existing ones, increase production, and intensify exploration activities, among others. This, we believe, is a substantial step towards the creation of decent and sustainable jobs and a strategic approach to sustaining the industry in the long run. Comrade Chair, at this point, permit me once again to isolate Heath Goldfields Ltd, the current manager and operator of the Bogoso-Prestea Mine, for special mention. As you may recall, in November 2024, the Government of Ghana issued the Bogoso-Prestea mining leases to Heath Goldfields Ltd amidst several months of agitations/demonstrations by the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union and its members, during which we called for the termination of mining leases due to the inability of the former leaseholder to manage or operate the Bogoso-Prestea mines. After several weeks of due diligence by the Minerals Commission and recommendation to the Government, the leases were finally terminated and issued to Heath Goldfields Ltd, subject to a number of conditions. Key to the conditions was the settlement of all outstanding indebtedness owed to our members by the previous leaseholder. Unfortunately, as you may all be aware, this decision eventually became a subject matter of intense legal tussle, making it difficult for the restart of the Bogoso-Prestea Mine. Thankfully, after several months of legal tussle, I am happy to confirm that Heath Goldfields Ltd, the current leaseholder and operator of the Bogoso-Prestea Gold Mine, has paid a significant portion of the total indebtedness owed to workers in wages/salaries and with the signed MoU we have entered with Heath Goldfields Ltd, we are confident that the remaining indebtedness would be settled in accordance with the agreed timelines. Comrades, whilst commending Heath Goldfields for the efforts being made to settle these legacy payments, I am also happy to report that Heath Goldfields has reached operational readiness and the Mine is about to commence production. Let me therefore seize this opportunity to once again commend Heath Goldfields for the positive strides they are making to reposition the Bogoso-Prestea Mine on the path of growth and sustainability. The Ghana Mineworkers’ Union pledges our fullest support and commitment to continue to work cooperatively and collaboratively with the Management of Heath Goldfields Ltd not only to settle the remaining indebtedness but to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Mine. Having successfully gotten the Bogoso-Prestea Mine to operational readiness, we would like to use this opportunity to call on the Government of Ghana, through the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, the Regulatory Agencies, especially the Minerals Commission and EPA, to support Heath Goldfields with all the relevant permits/licenses that would enable them to commence production and processing of gold. We also call on the chiefs and people of the communities of Bogoso and Prestea to support the turnaround efforts of the Bogoso-Presta Mines under the management of Heath Goldfields Ltd. Increasing Fragmentation of Production and The Rise of Non-standard Forms of Employment Comrade Chair, the transformational changes taking place in Ghana’s mining labour market, unfortunately, have resulted in a marked shift in the nature of employment away from standard or permanent employment to non-standard forms of employment (including temporary work, casualization, fixed-term contract work). As of the end of 2024, over 90% of the workforce in the mining sector is currently engaged in non-standard forms of employment with standard employment sitting just at about 10%. As a result of this significant shift exacerbated by the continues fragmentation of production and outsourcing, and aided by policy reforms by the Minerals Commission and by extension the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources in the name of local content/participation, which we find quite retrogressive, workers now have lower levels of employment protection, high degrees of uncertainty and face higher risks in respect of workplace accidents or injuries. There has been a surge in workers and trade union rights violations, a shrinking collective bargaining coverage, job insecurity, threatening social protection cover, and fluctuations in income and pensions. Comrade Chair, the current phenomenon where aspects of the mining business/jobs are farmed out at the least opportunity under cut-throat contract prices simply on the back of profit maximisation must stop since this arrangement continues to threaten and undermine the decent work agenda and impoverish our members. Astonishingly, this continues to happen at a time when the prevailing business environment is super favourable with gold price hitting the roof, and should have reflected in the total well-being of the enterprise. Unfortunately, this is not the case! Comrade Chair, it is trite knowledge that there are certain aspects of the mining business that are considered ancillary or non-core and can generally be farmed out but certainly not the core business for which a company is registered to perform. Unfortunately, under the guise of local content, these exploitative strategies continue to be pursued with impunity. As a trade union, we take an uncompromising opposition to the current arrangement and therefore reinforce our position that mining companies must be strictly responsible for the core business of mining, including associated employees’ cost, and therefore should not be allowed to farm out the core business that they have a responsibility and obligation under the law to perform. Whilst we generally disagree with this emerging arrangement in the name of local content, it is important to highlight the ills perpetrated by this arrangement and to call the attention of all actors within the mining space, particularly the Government, to take a special interest, as this has serious ramifications for the stability of the mining industry going forward. As a Union, we believe that it is not enough for the Government to just intervene in the mining space by regulating that certain aspects of the mining value chain like mining and haulage, should be left for local entities as part of local content within the sector. In fact, it is equally important that the Government takes a keen interest in ensuring that the contracts these local entities enter with these large-scale multinational companies are not, exploitative, cut-throat and suffocating since that is the current situation on the ground. It is particularly important for the Government to pay attention because of the capital-intensive nature of mining and challenges associated with access to, and the high cost of credit in Ghana for most of these local entities. The consequences of these cut-throat and suffocating contract rates are dire, as workers welfare in these local entities are relegated to the background and this is manifested in the excessive delays in payment of wages/salaries, non-payment of employees’ Provident Fund contributions and terminal gratuities, non-payment of statutory benefits such as pension contributions (1 st and 2 nd tiers), taxes and protracted negotiation of wages/salaries as well as conditions of service for our members. In fact, the current situation for most local entities operating within the mining space is very awful, to say the least, and ought to change without any further delay. We are therefore calling on all multinational mining companies engaged in this act and by extension the Chamber of Mines, to pay attention to this growing concern as this has the potential to threaten the stability of the industry in the not-too-distant future if nothing urgent and concrete is done about it. We also urge the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to take keen interest by intervening with favourable policies and programmes that would provide some respite to these local entities and by extension our members. Maximizing our stake/returns from the mining sector Comrade Chair , Ghana’s mining industry has been dominated and controlled by foreign interests, with over 99% of mining companies being foreign, owning 90% of the shares, with the Government left with a paltry 10% carrying interest. Without a doubt, the Government of Ghana has, since the 80s, shied away from actively participating in the mining sector but has instead relied heavily on the tax-royalty fiscal regime. As the calls for increased Ghanaian participation and maximisation of returns from the mining sector rage on, some have argued for a change in the current model to a complete takeover of the sector by the state, whilst others argue for a model that enhances our returns from mining by the renegotiation of existing contracts. Comrade Chair , unfortunately, we do not think there is a one-size-fits-all approach to this. In fact, given our history as a nation and the experiences of the state control of the gold mines popularly referred to as the era of the state gold mining corporations (SGMCs) in the 80s, and the challenges the sector got plagued with, we hold the view that a gradualist approach as opposed to a radical and indiscriminate takeover/non-renewal of mining leases as we witnessed recently with Gold Fields Damang, will be the way to go. It is against this backdrop that in December 2021, we lauded Government’s plan to introduce what it termed the “Minerals Income Investment Fund Small Scale Mining Incubation Programme” with an allocated budget of GH₵354 million to help transform wholly owned Ghanaian Small Scale Mining companies into mid-tier to large-scale companies over a period of 24 months beginning 1 st February 2022, with up to 30% of the allocation earmarked for provision of equity capital to selected small scale mining companies. Unfortunately, nothing substantial happened before the government of President Akuffo-Addo left office. As a key stakeholder in the mining industry, we want to use this opportunity to call on the Government to see to the realisation of these lofty plans under the Small Scale Mining Incubation Programme. Again, as a trade union with over eight decades old, we do not think the tax-royalty fiscal regime has not served us, even though it has its downsides. We therefore believe that a programme like the Minerals Income Investment Fund Small Scale Mining Incubation Programme existing alongside a more enhanced tax-royalty fiscal regime would be a more superior policy alternative. Comrade Chair, whilst advocating for greater participation by local entities operating in the mining space, it must be underscored that most local entities, particularly in the industry, are not attentive to corporate governance, CSR, and the well-being of workers as compared to their foreign counterparts. This is because, time and time again, these multinational businesses have not complied with our laws, they have proven to have shown more empathy and concern to people management issues. Aside their attentiveness to people management issues, they have a relatively robust system with well-established structures/standards (including corporate governance standards) that they rarely compromise and often would not hesitate to subject themselves freely to peer review and compliance with International Standards. Regrettably, local businesses shy away from subjecting themselves to these standards of good corporate governance and for that matter good corporate citizenship. The Union would therefore like to call on the Minerals Commission as the regulator for the sector to compel these local businesses just like their foreign counterparts to institute corporate governance structures, be more accountable and attentive to workers’ wellbeing and welfare, and comply strictly with corporate governance rules and regulations, and respect international standards/best practices, in order to avert the unfortunate but avoidable situation we witnessed in the financial sector where some directors were derelict in their duties whilst shareholders meddled in, and circumvented corporate governance rules that led to the collapse of a number of financial institutions denying innocent depositors their investments, imposing severe hardship on them and rendering most of them destitutes. Over 19,000 miners' Life Savings Locked in Bank of Ghana Regulated Institutions Comrade Chair, over 19,000 miners have their deposits drawn from our provident funds, welfare funds, leave savings, and individual funds, including severance packages locked up in Bank of Ghana regulated institutions who were affected by its financial sector clean-up in 2018/2019. As a Union, we are totally appalled and deeply disappointed in the Bank of Ghana as a regulator of these distressed financial institutions and its fiduciary duty to the citizens of this country to ensure effective supervision and regulatory compliance. Indeed, the Bank of Ghana in numerous public statements over the years, have communicated in no uncertain terms that anyone who places funds with Bank of Ghana regulated institutions does not have to stay awake in the night because those investments were safe and that even in the unlikely event of any loss, Bank of Ghana would be liable. Comrade Chair, it is against this backdrop that the unsuspecting public, including over 19,000 miners , placed our life savings/funds in these financial institutions regulated by the Bank of Ghana. Regrettably, after more than four years on, we are told by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, that the Bank of Ghana, who is the regulator of these weak/insolvent institutions, must recover the assets of those institutions and use any recovered assets to settle depositors, and that the Ministry of Finance has no money for that. Interestingly, the Finance Minister made this statement after acknowledging that the financial sector will require GHS 10.45 billion to address the remaining legacy issues and emerging risks in the 2026 budget. Whilst we note the call by the Minister of Finance to the Bank of Ghana to recover assets of these distressed institutions in order to settle depositors, we find his comments very unfortunate and do not think that the government and the Bank of Ghana are fair to depositors like us. Indeed, we trusted the Bank of Ghana, as a body created by law and given the functions of supervision and regulatory compliance, and therefore entrusted our life savings into the hands of these institutions licensed and regulated by the Bank of Ghana . We therefore expect the fiduciary duty of the BoG to us to be fully adhered to, and our monies paid to us without any further delay. We, therefore take the uncompromising position that the Bank of Ghana must fully refund our monies to us and recover the funds paid to us from the liquidated assets of its own regulated entities. Anything short of fully refunding depositors funds will have severe consequences in the coming days. Comrade Chair, we make this call against the backdrop of the numerous assurances from both the former and current governors of the BoG and IMF Reports OF May 2023 and December 2024 but without any success. Conclusion Comrade Chair, as I bring my speech to our end, let me once again congratulate each and everyone of us for our continues commitment and loyalty to the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union. This year, like many others, have been very challenging but with your support and God’s divine grace and mercy, we have survived it once again. As I have always maintained, our strength as a Union resides in our unity and togetherness and I will respectfully urge us all to continue to focus our energies and resources towards promoting and defending that at all times. Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year to you and your families and may the yuletide ahead be even better. May God bless us all and make the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union greater and stronger. Long Live the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union; Long Live the Trades Union Congress (Ghana) and Long Live our dear country Ghana.