Gondama, Friday, 3rd May, 2024—
Over the weekend, Senior officers of the Ministry of Employment, Labour and Social Security engaged the Management of Sierra Mineral Holdings Limited (SMHL) in Gondama, to discuss redundancy plan and payment of benefits as the company prepares to redundant 162 of its 398 staff.
The bauxite mining company, which has operated in Sierra Leone for 17 years, is temporarily ceasing operations in its site in Gondama, as it embarks on new site construction in Mokanji, both in Moyamba District.
According to management, only technical staff associated with the construction phase will be required on site during this period and those not required will be made redundant.
“In order to mitigate the number of redundant employees, the company will send some other employees on Administrative Leave with agreed percentage of salaries to be paid to them, said the company’s Human Resource Manager, Alusine Conteh.
In a letter addressed to the Commissioner of Labour to inform him of the Company’s decision, it is stated that management had explored all other means to avoid redundancy, “including transfer to other departments where the affected employees’ skills could be matched with the job responsibilities.”
“Unfortunately, we could not find any other alternative,” the management stated in the letter.
The Ministry’s team, headed by Acting Director of Labour and Employment, Sinneh Bockarie, held lengthy engagements with the management team, headed by Chief Operating Officer, Alexey Panov.
The latter delivered PowerPoint Presentations on their reasons for redundancy and their redundancy plan.
It was established that:
1. The Company is committed to comply with the Labour Laws of Sierra Leone regarding redundancy
2. Funds are available to pay redundant workers
3. The Company plans to rehire some of the employees after the construction phase
4. Those who will proceed on administrative leave will go home with 55% of their net salaries including a bag of rice, leave allowance and medical entitlements on monthly basis, as agreed with the Trade Union covering workers in that sector (URPMICE)
5. Management of SMHL will submit to MELSS a letter of commitment to pay redundant staff, a letter of commitment to rehire those on recall list as a matter of priority and to submit redundancy computation for vetting.
6. Management of SMHL to submit a comprehensive training/transfer of skills and succession plan schedule to MELSS.
The Ministry’s team also engaged other senior staff, junior staff and shop stewards to ensure that they were in agreement with SMHL’s Management decision.
Information Unit
Ministry of Employment, Labour and Social Security
+23276468761
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