The Amasaman High Court has shot down applications filed by Asanko Gold Ghana Limited against members of the Ghana Mine Workers Union (GMWU) who were sacked without proper compensation.
Asanko Gold Ghana limited (defendant) had sought the court to strike out the case, which according to them was premature.
The mining firm also prayed the court to forbid Ghana Mine Workers Union from representing the affected workers.
The Workers Union then filed an affidavit to object those applications.
The two entities are in court over non-adherence to the collective bargaining agreement relating to payment of severance to the Union’s members.
According to the mine workers, the agreed condition of service has not been adhered to by the board of Asanko Gold Ltd, especially, with issues of compensation for severance.
Background
The workers claim that Asanko Gold Ltd terminated the contract of 299 permanent employees and reduced their salaries which resulted in making their conditions of service worse off.
The company also failed to pay the appropriate severance to affected workers as agreed in the collective bargaining agreement.
The GMWU lamented that several meetings with management of Asanko Gold Ghana Ltd proved futile, hence their decision to resort to the courts.
In an earlier sitting, counsel for the GMWU disclosed that the mining firm wanted the case struck out because, according to them, the case was premature.
But the court in its sitting on Friday July 8, rejected the applications indicating that the Mine Union is a registered institution that has the capacity to be in court on behalf of the affected workers.
The High Court also quashed the application which claimed that the affected workers were duly paid.
The court in its ruling reiterated that the case is still pending and thus the affected workers can go ahead and pursue the case to seek redress.
Again, the court ordered Ghana Mine Workers Union to go back and ensure proper service or the affidavit is served to the company.
Counsel for Ghana Mine Workers Union, Twumasi Nayyar whiles addressing the media after the court proceedings explained that “once this hurdle is settled the GMWU will heed to the court’s order to properly serve Asanko mine as an entity to ensure the final ruling is issued in the next hearing.”
Meanwhile, next court hearing is dated two weeks from the last sitting.