PHOTO: Cllr. Chalres Gibson, Labour Mininister
The Liberian government has called on the International Labor Organization to provide support in ensuring that the Liberia Labor Congress hold fresh elections for a legitimate leadership to foster the interest of workers in Liberia.
Labor Minister, Charles Gibson said the Liberian government sees a strong labor congress advocating for workers as the surest way to developing and sustaining vibrant middle class in the country.
Minister Gibson made the call when he spoke at the 111th annual conference of the ILO in Geneva, Switzerland during the weekend.
In December last year, the Supreme Court of Liberia affirmed a circuit court’s ruling which nullified erstwhile new elections .
The case reportedly grew out of the long –standing internal wrangling which fractionalized the LLC, thus rendering it largely ineffective.
The last elections of the LLC was won by the President of the Civil Servants Association of Liberia headed by Moiba Johnson
But, the government has always resisted the joining of the public sector workers in the LLC, something that is seen as unacceptable to the rest of the labor unions in the country.
But, speaking during the conference, the Labour Minister outlined several positive interventions that the government continues to make in the interest of workers.
Cllr. Gibson highlighted the Labor Ministry’s rulings in the Arcelor Mittal Liberia, the Firestone Rubber Plantation Company, the Golden Veroleum, the Liberia Electricity Corporation, and Bea Mountain cases which brought salary increments, increased food, bonuses and other benefits to workers nationwide.