Over 200 workers of Golden Star (Bogoso/Prestea Limited), a mining company in the Western Region have filed a writ at the Labour and Industrial division of the Accra High Court, contending among other things that the mining giant has committed an act that constitutes forced labour under the laws of the country.
They are, therefore, praying the court to grant them cost, general damages, payment of interest and an injunction restraining the company from concluding the sale of Golden Star (Bogoso/Prestea Limited).
They also wanted the court to declare that upon the execution of the share purchase agreement and the sale of the company interest in the Bogoso/Prestea Goldmine to Global Resources Limited, the plaintiffs are entitled to receive severance/redundancy payments.
According to the plaintiffs, their employer had transferred them to a new company without their consent. This, they argue, is a unilateral decision of the employer and does not only constitute forced labour, but also amounts to a breach of their fundamental human rights to choice of employment.
In a statement of claim accompanying the writ, the plaintiffs claimed that per the share purchase agreement, employees of the former company will continue to be its workers and that no loss of employment or change to the existing conditions of services will result from the sale.
They also alleged that after the sale of the company was concluded, all the existing contracts and conditions of service of employees automatically become extinguished and non-transferable to the new company.
Similarly, they also said the situation automatically triggers a severance of the legal relationship that existed previously between them, as employees, and the employer, which is different from any new employment contracts and conditions the plaintiffs may execute under the new company.
According to them, the binding precedent, prior to the takeover by Golden Star Resource Limited from the Bogoso/Prestea Goldmine, severance payments were made to the employees.
Even though they are agreed that under their existing employment contracts, Golden Star Resources has the options of termination, redundancy or severance, the sale of the company does not guarantee the transfer of permanent workers to a new employer.
This, they say “individual employee have the guaranteed right, including the right to work, free choice of employment, protection against unemployment and forced labour, as enshrined under the Universal Declaration of Humana Rights and the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana.”
They said an invitation to meet with the employer on August 29, 2020 over the issue had since proven futile.
It was their case that it would be in the interest of justice for the severance process between the employer and them be set in motion and concluded before any new contracts of employment are executed, as envisaged with Future Global Resources Limited.
The post Workers sue Golden Star Resources over forced labour appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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