The workers of the Precious Mineral Marketing Company Limited (PMMC), who on Thursday, demostrated at the premises of the company are to return to work as steps are being taken to address grievances.
The latest development was captured in a joint statement signed by Mr. Prince William Ankrah, the General Secretary of the Ghana Mineworkers Union (GMU) and Dr. Kwadjo Opare-Hammond, the Managing Director of PMMC.
The statement was released after a meeting held on a petition the workers of PMMC presented to the GMU on Thursday, October 4, which raised a number of grievances.
It said there are communication gaps between management and workers, which largely contributed to the unfortunate impasse.
The statement said both the GMU and the PMMC shall work together to improve and deepen communication within the organisation adding that “management as an immediate response to the gaps in communication, shall set up an Employee Satisfaction Unit under the framework of the Whistle Blower Act, 2006, to complement the existing communication channels”.
It said “management shall work assiduously to address all the concerns raised and the workers on their part shall observe and respect the grievance procedures within the organisation”.
The statement said some of the concerns raised by the workers in relation to policy infractions such as recruitment and promotions were matters, which were already receiving attention by the Board.
It said for some of the concerns that had already been dealt with but which were not in the domain of the workers, they were appropriately clarified.
In a related development, the GMU and the Management of PMMC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which resulted in the release of a joint press statement on Friday, October 5, 2018 following an impasse.
As part of the MoU, the GMU represented by the Mr Ankrah and the Management of PMMC represented by the Dr Opare-Hammond had agreed that to work together to improve and deepen communication within the organisation.
The two entities acknowledged that the demonstration by workers was unlawful as it contravened laid down grievance procedures.
“In furtherance of the good faith with which the discussions on the resolution of the impasse were held, management shall ignore the workers’ contravention of the grievance procedures.
The MoU said no worker shall be penalized by management for contravening the grievance procedure and that workers shall henceforth observe and respect the grievance procedure of the organization.
Check the joint release from PMMC and GMU below:
