The Ghana Mineworkers’ Union (GMWU) has called on the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to immediately halt moves to shift core mining operations from owner-mining to contract mining, warning that the policy is worsening precarious employment and undermining workers’ rights.
The union said the increasing use of contract mining, outsourcing and labour brokers was turning what was once a source of stable and decent employment into a sector characterised by insecure jobs, depressed wages and weakening social protection.
In a petition to the ministry on Friday, the GMWU, which represents more than 14,000 workers in the mining industry, said more than 95 per cent of the sector’s workforce was now engaged in fixed-term or casual employment.
It said the situation represented a sharp deterioration from the employment structure before the introduction of the Minerals and Mining (Local Content and Local Participation) Regulations, 2020 (L.I. 2431), when mining jobs were generally permanent and offered greater income and job security.
The union contended that the fragmentation of mining operations in the name of local content had contributed to the erosion of decent work standards.
The GMWU said it was particularly concerned about a directive by the Minerals Commission to Zijin, Newmont and AngloGold to transition their owner-mining operations to contract mining by December 2026.
According to the union, workers employed by contractors were often paid significantly less than those performing the same jobs under owner-mining arrangements.
It claimed that workers could earn between 30 and 50 per cent less for identical core mining roles under contractors, while some workers could lose at least half of what they previously earned under owner-miners.
The union said the resulting reduction in incomes had wider implications for workers and the national economy, including lower personal income tax and pension contributions and reduced retirement benefits.
It also raised concerns about delays in the payment of salaries, non-payment or delays in provident fund and pension contributions, protracted negotiations over conditions of service and inadequate medical insurance coverage.
The GMWU further alleged that cost-cutting by contractors was contributing to inadequate provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) and higher rates of unrecorded workplace injuries.
It said the proliferation of short-term contracts and outsourcing was also weakening collective bargaining and exposing workers to arbitrary dismissals and anti-union practices.
The union accused some labour brokers, particularly those operating with some Chinese-owned mining companies, of treating labour as a commodity and subjecting Ghanaian workers, including mining engineers, geologists and metallurgists, to what it described as unacceptable working conditions.
It stressed, however, that it was not opposed to local content, investment or the participation of Ghanaian businesses in the mining industry.
Rather, it said local content should create meaningful opportunities for Ghanaians without transferring wealth from workers to contractors or compromising workers’ rights.
“Local content must therefore create opportunities for all Ghanaians. It cannot become a vehicle for exploitation to enrich a few contractors at the expense of the workers who risk and sweat day and night in the bowls of the earth to produce the wealth,” the union said.
The petition follows a meeting between the Ministry and the GMWU on May 26, 2026, at which the union said a roadmap was agreed to suspend the Minerals Commission directive and establish a Technical Committee to investigate the concerns.
The committee was also expected to review the Local Content Regulations to address what the union described as inadequate protection for workers.
However, the GMWU said three months after the roadmap was outlined, it had not received information or an invitation to participate in the work of the Technical Committee.
It has consequently demanded that the Ministry suspend any further administrative directives requiring or pressuring mining leaseholders to move core operations from owner-mining to contract mining until a comprehensive socio-economic impact assessment of the policy on labour rights has been conducted.
The union is also demanding decisive regulatory action to end fixed-term contracts, casualisation, disguised employment, unsafe working conditions and exploitative outsourcing in the mining sector.
It wants the Ministry to realign national mineral policy with decent work standards and establish a permanent Government-Employers-Labour forum to ensure that workers’ views are considered in major mining-sector policy decisions.
BY BENJAMIN ACTON-TETTEY
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