The leadership of the Extractive Industry Workers’ Union of Ghana (EIWUG), has appealed to the International Labour Organization (ILO) to intervene on behalf of employees of mining companies who have been denied the opportunity to become members of the union.
Speaking to Citinewsroom, the Chairman of EIWUG, Frederick Addai Opoku, accused the GMWU and the TUC of deliberately using intimidation to prevent EIWUG from operating as a certified trade union organization representing the interests of mining workers across the country.
He said the GMWU of TUC has refused to respect the decision of workers of mining companies to join their preferred unions, a move which is in clear contravention of the country’s 1992 Constitution which allows freedom of association.
According to him, while some senior staff members of Newmont Ghana are being targeted by the GMWU/TUC for being associated with EIWUG, about 500 junior staff of Akyem and Ahafo Mines who resigned from the GMWU are still being held as members and dues being deducted from their salaries against their will.
Mr. Addai Opoku accused the GMWU of perpetrating a self-centered agenda and called on the trade union fraternity to call them to ensure fairness and professionalism in the mining industry.