/ 26 May 1999

GOLDFIELDS STRIKE ENDS

WORKERS at the Ashanti Goldfields Company (AGC), Ghana’s most successful mining company, who have been on strike since May 13, have agreed to resume work, officials said late on Monday. The agreement followed a seven hour meeting held in Accra on Monday afternoon between the management of the company and representatives of the workers, the Trades Union Congress and the government. A statement issued in Accra on Monday night by the employment and social welfare ministry, which convened the meeting, said key pay rise talks will resume within seventy-two hours after the miners returned to work. Workers demanded that management raise their salaries from an average of $110 to to $500 per month. The strike in the mining town of Obuasi, 540 kilometres (325 miles) northwest of Accra, caused production losses of more than 28000 ounces of gold, according to an Ashanti Goldfields spokesman.