PHOTO: Minister Charles Gibson
By Augustine Octavius, augustineoctavius@gmail.com
The Ministry of Labor has handed its verdict in the case between the aggrieved contractors and the management of the ArcelorMittal Liberia, with the order for the management to pay 308,000 United States Dollars to former workers as total settlement.
Labor Minister said the ArcelorMittal should begin the disbursement of this amount directly to the affected workers on Thursday, September 23, 2021.
Addressing a press conference in Monrovia on Tuesday, Minister Gibson also directed that this payment to be disbursed to the affected workers of the ArcelorMittal Company in Nimba and Grand Bassa Counties where the concession has its operations and that the entire process should be completed before October 1, 2021.
During the hearing of the case, ArcelorMittal Liberia asserted that its action to transfer the workers status from directly under the company to the employment agency which was not illegal.
According to the Liberian Labour Minister, the leadership of the aggrieved workers should be given 15,000 United States Dollars to cover the expenses endued during the prolong struggle for the workers’ rights despite not being registered as workers union.
Cllr. Gibson also instructed the leadership of the aggrieved workers to be available to be present during the disbursement period.
The Labour Minister sad that the Ministries of Justice, Labor and the National Bureau of Concession will provide compliance to the process.
The latest ruling directed that this amount shall be disbursed based on the list of names submitted to the Ministry Labor by the leadership of the aggrieved former workers, copy of which is attached to the ruling and the amount to be disbursed to each affected workers.
But there has so far been no reaction from the ArcelorMittal company’s management to the latest verdict and the order to commence the payment by tomorrow, Thursday.
Minister Gibson mandated that the altitude of blocking the rail because of pending grievances between the management and workers is unacceptable and can result to damage of property, injuries, deaths or economic sabotage, because the government will not tolerate any further.
Background to the case
In October 2020, the aggrieved workers of ArcelorMittal Liberia complained to the Ministry of Labor requesting its intervention into unfair labor practice
During the investigation, the aggrieved workers submitted 546 contractors who worked between four to seven years in different departments in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County and Yekepa in Nimba County.
According to the employees, they were employed as contractors but they were later turned over to an employment agency by the Arcelor Mittal Company
The aggrieved former employees claimed that the management failed in its promise to have them employed when business improved.
The aggrieved former employees also produced identification cards, access pass and social security ID cards issued them by the ArcelorMittal to substantiate their claims.
In defense, the ArcelorMittal Liberia asserted that its action to transfer the workers status from directly under the company to the employment agency which was not illegal.
The management also claimed that the aggrieved former workers casual workers and as such were not entitled to employment benefits.
According to the management, the issuance of access pass to the workers was to allow them gain access to the company’s compound.
When the Labor Ministry was handling the verdict, the leadership of the aggrieved workers was present but the representatives of the company were conspicuously absent.
Earlier workers’ protest
Protest by the ArcelorMittal Liberia workers started as far back as 2019.
One of such protest took place on November 14, 2019 in the port city of Buchanan, the headquarters of the iron ore giant and also Nimba County that caused the intervention of Internal Affairs Minister, Varney Sirleaf.
They setup roadblocks on the train track which is used by the company to transport iron ore from the mountains in Nimba to the port of Buchanan in demand of their benefits or reinstatement into workforce.
Mr. Kingston Nyandibo, head of the redundant Arcelormittal employees in a meeting said they and some of their family members embarked on the protest because all efforts aimed addressing their plight have proven fruitless.
Mr. Marcus S. Wleh, Head of Government Relations of Arcelormittal at the time appealed to the protesters to grant a two-week period for the company to sort out the relevant documentations that will lead to finding permanent solution to the problem.
ArcelorMittal Liberia redundant workers’ protest ends in negotiations – News Public Trust