4 May, 2009
The Labour Ministry of Liberia threw out ArcelorMittal’s claims that an 11 April representation election for potentially 2,000 miners and other workers should be declared invalid. ICEM affiliate Forestry, Logging, and Industrial Workers’ Union of Liberia (FLIWUL) won the election by a 10-to-one margin over a rival union in a Labour Ministry-supervised vote that was flawed by management and a Liberian parliamentarian who attempted to halt balloting after it began. (See a prior ICEM report here.)
In the company’s protest, it claims that the Labour Ministry failed to define the correct bargaining unit and that it failed to follow procedural matters leading up to the vote.
In a 21 April letter, Acting Labour Minister John Josiah determined that several meetings were held prior with representatives of both unions that set forth the election timetable, ballots, and other matters. In the letter certifying FLIWUL, Josiah also said that despite a series of consultations with ArcelorMittal’s Liberian management, “you seem to be bent on ignoring fundamental principles both in keeping with (Liberia’s) Labour Practices Law and Relevant ILO Conventions.”
The government then reprimanded the company for its “desire to delay the elections” by sending a list of its employees only two days ahead of the vote, instead of the mandated seven as prescribed by the Labour Code. “We … understood that this was only a scheme to postpone the elections but to no avail.”
The certification letter also pointed out that after balloting began in one of the two locations, managers discouraged workers from voting by stating the vote had been cancelled when, in fact, it had not. One of ArcelorMittal’s election observers left the Buchanan polling area shorting after voting began on 11 April, but returned later in the day with a Liberian parliamentarian to declare the vote cancelled.
FLIWUL activists in Harbel
Related to this, Acting Minister Josiah’s letter stated: “The Ministry of Labour would like to note that it will continue to abhor in the strongest term any or all acts of arbitrariness by one party over the other during Union/Management Representation Elections. The fact that remedies are available to every process should have given you every basis to allow the process and later seek redress rather than obstruct the exercise for hours. This we are still studying to determine the appropriate course of action.
“Meanwhile, we are pleased to state that the recent Union/Management Representation Election held was in line with normal procedure at the Ministry, and as such the results are authentic.”
ArcelorMittal stated in its objections to the election that even if the vote was certified, it would file an appeal on that decision. But on 28 April, FLIWUL leadership was contacted by management and a 22 May meeting has been set up between the two sides to discuss the next step.
ArcelorMittal is currently engaged in a US$1.5 billion iron ore re-development project in Nimba County, near the Liberian-Guinea-Cóte d’Ivorie border. The project also encompasses a 250-kilometre rail link to the Atlantic Ocean port of Buchanan. Some 2,000 Liberian workers are expected to be employed.