Africa-Press – Liberia. The Ministry of Labour has given a thirty-day ultimatum to the management of ArcelorMittal Liberia to address workers’ concerns as relates to salary disparities and other bad labor practices.
The Ministry noted that the mining company has failed to adhere to provisions of the Collective Bargain Agreement (CBA), signed between them and the workers’ unions in the areas of salary increment, provision of safety materials and improvement in working conditions.
According to the Ministry, a thirty days ultimatum has been given to Arcelor-Mittal Liberia to address the issues of salary disparities as well as job title grading system for workers.
“Arcelor-Mittal Liberia has been ordered to increase workers’ salary by no more than five percent,” the Minister of Labour, Cllr. Charles Gibson said. “Regarding an allegation of salary disparity, the management acknowledged its existence as claimed by the workers, but informed us that the said disparity was inadvertently obtained through prolonged delays to conduct a personnel audit of the Human Resource system at ArcelorMittal Liberia.”
“Precedent having been set and cannot be departed arbitrarily, this Ministry hereby states that the AML workers’ request during the negotiation of the current CBA was not unreasonable. It is therefore the ruling of this Ministry that the Management of AML lives up to precedent and increase its union workers salaries by no more than five percent,” Gibson added.
According to Gibson, the Ministry holds that workers should not be paid because of the multiplicity of skills set but the specific work being performed for which they were hired.
“To do otherwise constitutes a breach of the Labor Law of Liberia and international best practices,” the Minister noted.
The Ministry’s action stemmed from a probe launched into delays being caused in the implementation of a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) signed between ArcelorMittal Liberia and its workers in 2021. The agreement, Gibson said, had the issue of salary increment enshrined in it but the mining company had it tabled as a result of trying to determine the percentage of increment, which has not worked.
Meanwhile, ArcelorMittal Liberia has taken exception to the ruling from the Ministry on the CBA signed with its workers’ union in 2022.
In a brief statement issued shortly after the release of the ruling under the signature of its Communication Manager Winston P. Daryoue, the company pointed out that it reserves the right to take full advantage of the recourse available under the law.
“Since 2022, ArcelorMittal Liberia has made significant improvements regarding the benefits of its workers and is a market leader in Liberia on the benefits package it offers its staff. From the time of signing of the CBA, ArcelorMittal Liberia has approved benefit increments totaling more than US$5.5 million covering housing, school fees, shift and travel allowances, making staff who work for ArcelorMittal Liberia, one of the highest paid in the country.”
In a related development, the Ministry of Labor has also ordered the Liberia Electricity Corporation to recommence negotiation with its workers regarding the suspended collective bargaining agreement.
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