Mineworkers in the country say they will strike if their concerns for fair and equitable wages continue to fall on deaf ears.
According to General Secretary of the Mineworkers Union, Prince William Ankrah, there is a global shortage of skills in the industry, and that Ghana could lose its skilled workforce to other countries if wages do not improve.
Addressing the 11th Quadrennial Delegates Conference of the union in Tarkwa last week, Ankrah said although the union has, over the years, been making noise about the injustice of poor wages, they have received very little attention.
“Responses from the industry’s stakeholders have been hypocritical or at best rhetoric”, Ankrah observed.
Mineworkers, he said, have over the years been used, refused and in some cases, abused by mining companies for their dedication to the job.
He cited instances where mineworkers retired and were transported to their villages empty-handed in articulator trucks after mining for over 30 years to languish in abject poverty.
However, in 1997, following a global downturn which massively impacted the economic conditions in the country as well as the mining industry, the union initiated the idea of indexing salaries to the dollar to address the fluctuation between the cedi and US dollar.
Leaders like Sir Sam Jonah and President Jerry Rawlings saw the logic of the union’s argument and assisted in making this indexation arrangement which saw some relative stability for mineworkers, Ankrah added.
Additionally, in 2009, a new industry minimum wage was mooted dubbed: “agenda US$500 minimum” was pursued until 90% success was achieved. In 2014, an empirical study confirmed the Union’s view that wage inequity is a major challenge and it emerged that from the analysis, the bottom (poorest) 10% of workers’ share of income for the period in the study was 1.26% while the top (richest) 10% share was 57.48%.
“In other words, 90 percent of the workers’ share of wage income (42.52%) was less than the top richest 10% income of 57.48%”. Comparing mineworkers with their peers in South Africa, Congo, Mozambique and Namibia, suggests Ghanaian miners are shortchanged in every aspect.
He said the country stands to lose a great deal if the current situation is left unattended to. There is a veritable skills shortage not just in Australia, Canada and Peru with chances that they will attract miners from Ghana if the challenge of wage disparity is not addressed adequately.
He cited the Marikana massacre in South Africa as a direct result of inadequate wage problems that led to the protest and eventual massacre. He therefore called for a roadmap with clearly defined timelines in terms of deliverables.
He ended by saying, if provoked, they will strike.