Monrovia — Liberia Labour Minister, Cllr. Charles H. Gibson says the issues of employment and industrial safety of workers in Liberia are high on the agenda of the government.
According to Minister Gibson, the Government is working closely with major concessions and other employers in Liberia to ensure that more opportunities are created to provide quality jobs to Liberians who are qualified.
He said, the Ministry of Labour is committed to ensuring that for everyone expatriate employed by a company, a Liberian counterpart must be employed alongside for a possible transfer of skills.
The Minister furthered disclosed that his Ministry currently has over 6000 registered qualified and trained Liberians in its database waiting to be employment.
The Labour Minister stressed the need for Human Resources Managers or departments in various concessions operating in the country to endorse work permit requests from sub-contracted companies, because if for any reason they fail to pay their work permit fees or comply with government's policies, said concessions will be held responsible for their actions.
Minister Gibson made these assertions Thursday August 11, 2022, at the Ministry of Labor when he held a meeting with a team of senior managers of ArcelorMittal Liberia, headed by Chief Executive Officer Mr. Jozephus Coenen, accompanied by AML's Head of Organizational Development and Human Resources Ms. Rose Kingston.
Speaking on the issue of industrial safety, Minister Gibson informed the Management of ArcelorMittal Liberia that the risk factors of safety at many mining operations remain high and as such, their industrial and occupational safety issues need to be made a top priority.
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He expressed the Ministry of Labour's preparedness to work with AML to improve safety issues at the company.
Responding, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), of AML Mr. Jozephus Coenen said safety is a very high priority at AML and spoke of several measures being taken to improve on safety policies in the company.
On employment, the AML CEO noted that since taking over as head of the company in Liberia, he has observed that there are many qualified Liberians but called for assertive actions to increase the number of women in Liberia's mining sector.
He is at the same time encouraging women to apply for various jobs at ArcelorMittal Liberia and take advantage of employment and training opportunities being advertised by the company.
ArcelorMittal Liberia is one of the leading private sector employers in Liberia.
