-Reports of more job losses expected to follow at other companies
By Garmah Never Lomo, garmahlomo@gmail.com
It appears that the already bleak economic situation in Liberia may get worse before getting better, with more workers in private companies losing their jobs, just after Firestone rubber company earlier began laying off 800 of its workers.
Now, closely following suit is the MNG Gold Mines in Kokoya, Bong County in central Liberia, which has confirmed the redundancy of 157 of its workers, but denies suspension of its operations.
In May Bea Mountain, which operates in Western Liberia, redundant 123 employees and again this company reportedly plans to lay off an additional 384 employees from this Thursday, June 5, 2019.
There are other reports that the Sime Darby oil palm company operating in the west of the country too plans to layoff over 180 employees.
Coming hard on the heels of the current economic crisis, the latest MNG Gold redundancy is said to be affecting both Liberian and expatriate employees.
The company said it took the decision to reduce its workforce by18 percent (157) in line with the laws and regulations and the collective Bargaining Agreement to be signed with united Workers Union of Liberia.
MNG Gold Liberia is one of the largest commercial gold mines in this mineral-rich West African state. It said it is always committed to explore, discover and create new opportunities for people and development of the country.
According to the gold mining company, being a world class business integral to Liberia’s economy, the company acts with integrity with the Liberian government and other key stakeholders in the development of solutions for responsible economic growth, leveraging the talent of their employees to contribute to a sustainable future for the communities.
MNG Gold mine Liberia said even though the speculation about the company’s suspension of its operation in Liberia is not true, what is true is that due to the less than favorable economic and financial conditions the company sustained in November last year, it has to implement further
‘targeted efficiency improvements and cost cutting measures at its business units.’
The cost cutting measures are a new production plan is being implemented at Kokoyah Gold mine and overmanned operations are being standardized in line with the industrial requirements and development.
Regarding employees, the Ministry of Labor and the workers union explained the reasons and specifically outlined a winding down schedule severance information and other particulars by the management.
MNG Gold mine said what they believe is that even one redundancy is too many and saddening. There are currently 709 employees working at the Kokoyah Gold mine over 80 percent of whom are Liberians who remain contributing significantly to both local and national economy.
MNG, one of the largest Gold mining company in Liberia, has promised that it will continue to work closely with the staff representatives, the Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Mines and energy along with the United workers union of Liberia to find ways of keeping the number of redundancies as low as possible.
The gold mining company further said it is confident that many of the staff whose posts are being cut will be given priority for future job opportunities in the future.
The company further promised to continue to give all their staff as much help, information and support as possible at this difficult time.