By Augustine Octavius, augustineoctavius@gmail.com
Labor Minister Charles Gibson has paid a working visit to MNG-Gold Mining site in Korkoyah District, Bong County in his quest to identify employment opportunities for qualified Liberians with major concessions across the country .
MNG-Gold is a foreign gold mining company that has introduced underground mining operations in Liberia for the first time.
The Minister and team from the Labor Ministry met and held successful discussions with both the management and the leadership of workers as well as ESP, the company sub-contracted by MNG to carry out the underground mining activities in the country.
The meeting centered on job creation for Liberians, decent work environment and compliance to the labor law of Liberia.
The Minister stressed the need for Liberians to occupy senior manager positions such as human resource officer and accountants within the companies as well as the provision of the personal protective equipment for workers at the mining site.
Minister Gibson promised that he will work to ensure that more Liberians are employed and their safety are secured noting that “HRs are better in ensuring the safety and protection of workers when they are Liberians”.
Labour Ministry’s team & management of MNG-Gold
In separate statements, both management of MNG-Gold and ESP admitted to having foreigners occupying the position of HRs in their respective companies, but promised to have them replaced once the Ministry of Labour can assist in identifying qualified Liberians to serve in said capacity.
The MNG-Gold management said that despite the challenges faced by the company due to COVID-19, the company will continue to provide employment for Liberians.
They said that out of the total of 107 workforce, 30 are expatriates while 77 are Liberians and promised further reduction in the number of expatriates.
They informed the minister that there is one Liberian manager and several others playing supervisory rolls and head of sections.
They also promised to furnish the ministry with all open positions or vacancies at the company to afford Liberians the opportunity to compete.
For their part, the Management of ESP said that at the moment, several positions at the company are being contracted to Liberians, but is training more Liberians in underground mining activities, with skills to use the difference mining equipment and is looking to employing many as soon as the company is in full operations.
The Labour Minister and team were taken on an inspection tour of the company’s facilities including the underground mining site at which time they had the opportunity to speak with workers about their conditions of work and safety.
Meanwhile, Minister Gibson is advising technicians of his ministry to effectively guide employers and employment institutions on the implementation of the labor law and practices instead of allowing them (employers) to go wrong before taking actions.