The Liberian Government, through the Ministry of Labour, has strongly warned a group of contract workers at the AFCONS Company in Buchanan to immediately resume work or risk losing their contracts. AFCONS is the largest service provider sub-contractor company of Arcelor Mittal Liberia and has a workforce of over eight hundred, although it is currently drawing down on its contract tenure.
The splinter group of AFCONS workers, led by one Christopher Weah currently on strike number just below three hundred, but they have engaged into ‘picketting’, preventing others not involved with their go-sliw from attending jobs. Their action was earlier, described by Labour Minister Hon. Cllr. Cooper W. Kruah, Sr. Aas ‘illegal’. A Labour Ministry press release issued over the weekend and signed by the Deputy Communications and Public Affairs Director, Mr. E. Frederick Baye, quotes Assistant Labour Minister for Labour Standards, Hon. Emmanuel Zorh, who led a Crisis Resolution Team to end the AFCONS workers’ strike as maintaining that the striking workers are unlawfullly demanding the management to provide USD 10,000.00 ( Ten Thousand United States Dollars) to each of their over 600 hundred members as ‘end of contract fees’.
The release further quotes Assistant Labour Minister Zorh as clarifying that such demands are not contained in their contract and are not covered in the Decent Work Act. The release said, besides the group of striking AFCONS contractor workers, led by one Christopher Weah, is also accusing Management of providing them with combinated water, a claim that was declared ‘invalid’ in January this year, when the water in question was tested by a mineral water company identified by the very striking workers and was found fit for human consumption. The release added that during the Labor Ministry investigation into several other allegations levied against the AFCONS Management by the Agrieved Splinter workers, it was established that the workers, in 2025, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU), in which they received USD300.00 (United States Three Hundred Dollars), each from the AFCONS Management as ‘motivational fees’, after which they committed themselves to waive all other claims which triggered their present illegal strike actions. Consequently, Assistant Labour Minister Zorh, has reinforced earlier condemnation of the Splinter workers’ ongoing strike actions and warned that their failure to amicably resolve their dissatisfactions with Management and resume work within ten consecutive working days will constitute a breach of the Decent Work Act (DWA), and could lead to job loss, stressing that Government will not countenance persistent unlawful strikes by workers who use ‘blackmail’ to extort money from industrial entities.
