Anglogold Retrenched Workers Given Investment Options

Anglogold Ashanti (AGA), Ghana, with guidance and endorsement from the Ghana Mines Workers� Union, has given a lifeline to more than 800 workers it has retrenched by organising a special investment fair at which the workers were provided with financially secure and safe advice from experts.

The objective of the fair was to impart knowledge on how to manage their finances so �they do not become destitute.�

Over a dozen investment institutions and recruitment agencies, were on hand to recommend plans for efficient management of the worker�s monetary packages.

A total of 845 retrenched workers and a large number of people mainly from the Obuasi community thronged the fair ground to listen to the talk on investment.

The Secretary of the Ghana Mines Workers� Union of the Anglogold Ashanti branch in Obuasi, Mr Nicholas Yeboah, on behalf of the Professional and Management Staff Association of AGA, commended the mining firm for showing concern about the future of the retrenched workers.

�The campaign to create investment awareness is very necessary so that our members who are now retrenched will not become destitute after their working life at AGA. We want them to live happily and secure as we say in the mining industry: the old miner never dies,� he said.

Anglogold Ashanti Ghana embarked on a major retrenchment exercise early this year to downsize its work force as it shuts down its old mine site to relocate to the Sanso site also in Obuasi.

The company is expected to spend about $220 million in settlement packages that is still under negotiations between management, the local union and representatives of the Ghana Mines Workers� Union.

The company will within two years, however, re-employ a small set of highly skilled workers in line with a redesign plan of the mine.

The action to close down the old mine follows rising cost of production, high under-performance of the workers and unstable world market prices.

Source: Daily Graphic