Labour Ministry averts Protest Action at Mano Palm Oil Plantation Company

The Ministry of Labour has averted a major protest action by aggrieved workers of the Mano Palm Oil Plantation Company in Bomi and Grand Cape Mount Counties.

Aggrieved protestors, majority of whom are workers, blocked all major entities into the plantation during the week in demands of their delayed labour benefits and takeover of the management by citizens of the two host counties, Bomi and Grand Cape Mount.

A release from the Labour Ministry quotes Labour Minister, Cllr. Cooper W. Kruah, as disclosing that upon the spontaneous eruption of the labour unrest at the Oil Palm Plantation, he immediately dispatched crisis intervention and negotiation team to resolve the situation.

The Labour Ministry negotiation team which was headed by Deputy Minister Steven S. Kolubah, comprised of Assistant Minister Emmanuel Zorh, Labour Inspector General Charles Brown and Communication Director Joseph K. Nyandibo.

The team was later joined by Grand Cape Mount County Electoral District 2 Representative, Hon. Mohammed Dosii.

The team first met with protesting workers who besieged all entries to the plantation as a means of preventing other workers from reporting to work and later engaged Management team for an amicable resolution of the crisis.

During the negotiation process, the Labour Ministry release further quotes Minister Kruah as disclosing that the action of the workers was not sanctioned by their workplace union, nor the mother organization, GAAWUL, contrary to the terms of their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the company management.

For their part, the Labour Ministry release continued, Management representatives appealed to the Liberian Government, through the Labour Ministry to prevail on the striking workers to allow their colleagues, including contractors, who were not part of the strike action and willing to work to do so

.

The Team and the workers agreed that processing mills will be kept functional, workers and contractors should resume work and the both parties were cited for further concluding deliberations at the Labour Ministry this Thursday, May 9, 2024.