At least 2,000 gold miners risk losing their jobs

At least one-fifth of the 10,000 employees of Ashanti Goldfields, one of sub-Saharan Africa's largest companies, could lose their jobs in the next few weeks because of depressed world gold prices, a company official was quoted as saying on Monday. AFP reported that the official, who asked not to be named, said a "firm decision" had already been taken and "some of the casual workers have already gone home". AFP quoted the official as saying, "These are permanent lay-offs." The general secretary of the Ghana Mine Workers Union, Robert Cole, said Goldfields' management cited rising production costs as the reason for the lay-offs. However, Ghana joined South Africa at the weekend in protesting the decision by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Britain to sell gold reserves, depressing the world price to a 20-year low, AFP reported. Whether or not social unrest results from the lay-offs depends on the sensitivity with which Ashanti Goldfields and the government treat the workers, a Ghanaian assistant professor at Northeastern University in the United States, Kwamina Panford, told IRIN on Tuesday. "If the Labour Ministry, mine workers and management sit in a mutually respectful manner, then it's not going to lead to social unrest," said Panford, a specialist in economic and social development as well as human resources. Respectful treatment of the workers would, he said, mean providing them with decent severance packages, and redirecting those with artisanal skills to other jobs or small-scale private businesses. In addition, he said, the labour minister, who must be part of any negotiation, should not display hostility to the workers. Whatever the case, Panford said, the lay-offs will affect linkage businesses - mainly subcontractors that provide workers with things like uniforms and those who supply the subcontractors. In the last 30 years, Panford said, there has been only one economic incident in Ghana that has led to social unrest: the first attempt, in 1995, to introduce VAT.