Representatives for workers working for Shandong Steel Mine Group have called for the intervention of his Excellency the President in a blatant violation of the country’s labour laws by Shandong Steel Mine Group.
According to the workers, the call for President Bio’s intervention is on the basis that the Minister of Labour, Adekunle King, has been compromised and he has therefore backed the Chinese Company to pay End of Service Benefits, a position which is against the earlier position of the Commissioner of Labour who wrote two correspondences to the company instructing them to pay all End of Service benefits using the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Close sources within the Ministry have intimated our source that the stance of the Minister on the issue has caused embarrassment for the Commissioner of Labour who had taken a very strong stance on the issue even before the Minister was appointed.
The workers noted that the Minister has lost the moral high ground to mediate on the saga between the workers and the Chinese company and therefore only the President would salvage the situation.
Many Sierra Leoneans were left disappointed that a Minister in the New Direction of President Bio would be easily compromised against his fellow Sierra Leoneans who have largely voted for change from a corrupt system that favored foreigners and operated inhumane and highly discriminatory labour laws against Sierra Leoneans with the backing of few corrupt senior nationals.