-As workers reject 22% increment
The Volta Aluminum Company (VALCO) has been shut down temporarily while management engages agitated workers over demands for salary increases.
According to management of the company, following an unannounced takeover of the Smelter on Monday by some workers, a decision was taken with the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) to take down VALCO’s operating pot lines.
This was to save it and allow for a smooth restart as management work to resolve the impasse.
VALCO said the development will not cost it US$100,000 per pot in shutting down and US$10million for restarting the plant, as is being peddled in some sections of the media.
“Rather, it is to prevent such occurrences that management opted for the controlled halt to its operations,” a statement from the company stated.
VALCO’s Board of Directors, conscious of the smelter’s strategic significance to the ongoing Integrated Aluminium Industry (IAI) project, charged management to ensure that Ghana does not lose the smelter in the event of any agitation that occasions an unplanned shutdown.
This is to avoid any likely negative consequences – on the project in particular and Ghana’s accelerated economic development in general.
However, the management of VALCO indicated that the workers, after a series of negotiations led by their union executives, made an initial demand for a 62 percent salary increment and subsequently reduced it to 55 percent.
“In response, the management of VALCO offered to grant a 22 percent increment in salaries for the workers – with the assurance of further increments in the future as VALCO continues its efforts at finding a strategic investor to retrofit the plant,” the statement captured.
“VALCO appealed to workers to consider the current state of the aluminium smelter, which for years had been recording losses until the year 2021 – when through prudent management and better supervision, it chalked up some modest gains by recording Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) profits. According to management, they are hoping to build on this and retrofit and modernise the plant to improve efficiency and increase its capacity,” it added.
Management of VALCO further indicated to the workers’ union executives that it will on November 1, 2022 finalise a communique for submission to the National Labour Commission (NLC) for independent third-party adjudication, after negotiations between management and workers ended in a stalemate.
The unsuccessful engagement with workers led to a full-blown takeover of the smelter. Among other demands, management said workers insist on having their salaries pegged to the dollar as of the last salary adjustment on September 1, 2022; but the parties were unable to reach an agreement.
The decision to allow some staff who have attained retirement age to stay, management said, was deliberate and tactful – given that they are very experienced and knowledgeable in running a highly technical field and a strategic plant such as the VALCO smelter.
However, management said it has initiated a succession plan that is already being implemented. It is expected that some of the experienced staff under contract will start exiting by close of the year 2022.
Management has assured that it will continue to dialogue with labour to find a resolution to the impasse and ensure there is no threat to life and property.
Meanwhile, VALCO has commenced processes to partner with a strategic investor who will retrofit and modernise the plant to increase its production – from the current 50,000 tonnes out of its 200,000 tonnes installed capacity, to 300,000 tonnes of refined aluminium per year.
