In a rather, dramatic move to ensure employment space for hundreds of ordinary Liberian job seekers, Labour Minister Hon. Cllr. Cooper W. Kruah, Sr. has announced that the ministry will suspend issuance or renewal of work permits to unskilled expatriates being brought into the country and those already here, under major investment conglomerates.
The move takes effect upon expiration of Alien Work Permits this year of several unskilled expatriates working with major foreign investment conglomerates, according to a Labour Ministry press release quoting Minister Hon. Cllr. Cooper W. Kruah, Sr.
The release issued in Monrovia over the weekend under the signature of Deputy Director for Communication and Public Affairs, E. Frederick Baye, Minister Kruah made the pronouncement over the weekend, concluding the third leg of his ongoing nation-wide labour assessment tour at several foreign owned companies in Nimba County.
Some concessions toured by Minister Kruah and team include: world steel giant Arcelor Mittal, AFCONS, PSS, WBHOSC and Mahathi Infra Company.
Minister Kruah’s pronouncement to suspend the issuance or renewal of Alien Work Permits for unskilled expatriates in the country, the release revealed, was triggered by mounting complaints from local workers about the influx of several unskilled expatriates working at major industrial companies, hindering job placement for hundreds of youthful job seeking Liberians.
In direct engagements and frank exchanges with Liberians on contacts or employment at the various concessions during the tour, the release disclosed that Labour Minister Kruah received complaints of huge numbers of unskilled labourers being imported into the country by respective managements and performing minor tasks that Liberians are even more capable of performing, but are being denied recruitment.
Minister Kruah is further quoted as expressing serious concerns over the situation, and urged the affected concessions to ensure that these unskilled expatriates working in their companies are immediately replaced by Liberians with similar status and seeking employment opportunities, stressing: “President Joseph Nyumah Boakai is committed to ensuring that Liberians of all categories, including skilled and unskilled must get first preference for job placement and we can not continue to allow our foreign investment partners to hire unskilled expatriates for jobs that Liberians are capable of performing”, the release quotes Minister Kruah as emphasizing.
The Minister then subsequently requested management of companies visited to submit comprehensive employees’ roosters of both local and expatriates; inclusive of payroll disparity, managerial skills and contract terms for immediate review with the aim to effect appropriate adjustments and alignment of associated benefits, mainly for Liberians already on job and others seeking employment, the release notes.
Addressing issues raised by the local workers visited, ranging from lack of feeding, unstable transportation, overtime benefits, delay in salaries, huge disparities in benefits for local and expatriate staff, the release disclosed that Minister Kruah immediately ordered remedies by management and called on workers at concessions without workplace and mother unions to begin unionizing themselves and seeking membership with either of the many national workers groups under the Liberia Labour Congress (LCC), as means of creating a smooth working relationship with management and the ministry in addressing their concerns.
The release further revealed that Minister Kruah, in some instances and based on local workers’ complaints, ordered some concession conglomerates toured to comply with the Decent Work Act which stipulates specific timeline for contractual employees to transition to full time employment, decent working environment, improvement in feeding, as well as hygienic conditions.
The Labour Minister is also quoted by the release as mandating the respective management to provide or improve on current transportation for workers, refrain from deduction of workers pay for non-work hours and days, especially caused by unforseen circumstances encountered by management and provide daily work rest period, annual leave, among others. Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer of Arcelor Mittal, Michael Van Der Merwe, AFCONS Project Manager Sudhakar Patnaik, WBHOSC CEO Michael Teekay, PSS Project Manager Alistair Taylor and Mahathi Infra Services Pvt Plant Manager Vijaya Mahathi, assured Labour Minister Kruah of their unflinching support to the full implementation of the Ministry’s ongoing labour transformation, improvement in the working conditions of all of their workers, without discrimination, the release adds.
The investment tycoons are further quoted by the Labour Ministry press release as informing the Labour Minister of the unwarranted demands by some workers, including deliberately staying away from work without tangible excuses and pressuring management to provide incentives not deserved.
On the complaints by their workers of not being employed based on their qualifications and employment of unskilled expatriates with extravagant benefits, the senior investment conglomerates heads informed Minister Kruah that most work at their companies, including the ongoing construction of a giant size modern iron ore washing plant at the Yekepa site, only second in Africa, requires specialized personnel with advanced scientific skills; thus limiting most Liberians seeking or currently on contract at the respective entities, without such skills, the release states.
They, however, assured the Labour Minister of ongoing training for some Liberian staff who are expected to eventually manage and operate the machines, upon the expiration of current expatriate workers’ tenure, the release further quotes them as explaining.
For their parts, the workers through their respective spokespersons, commended Minister Kruah for reaching out and seeking their wellbeing through constructive engagement with the Management of Arcelor Mittal and its respective sub-contracting entities; first by any Liberian Labour Minister in recent decades.
As Augustine Stephens, General Spokesman of AFCONS Workers Union simply puts it on behalf of his colleagues:” We are delighted today with Labour Minister Kruah and to come here, discuss our appalling conditions at these AML subcontracting companies, hoping that our plights will be speedily addressed”, the release states.
Other members of Labour Minister Kruah’s top official team on the four day labour assessment tour of industrial conglomerates at Yekepa and other areas of Nimba County were: Deputy Minister for Administration Hon. Othello P. Mansuo, Assistant Ministers Daybah Johnson of Regional Labour and Emmanuel Zorg of Labour Standard; Alien Registration Director Eric Dahn, Assistant Labour Inspectors-General for Operations and Administration Albert Tennie and Darius Weamie, among others.
Minister Kruah and team have since returned back to Central Office in Monrovia, with specific instructions to Nimba County Labour Commissioner J. Solomon Workor and staff to ensure that other related labour complaints received by the Minister and not immediately addressed during the tour, are promptly resolved with reports forthwith, transmitted to Monrovia for prompt actions where necessary.
