Local senior staff of the Sierra Rutile Mining Company said they have “temporarily” called off their almost two-week long hunger strike while the company looked into their grievances.
They hunger strike started on 3 October because of alleged ill-treatment from the company’s administrators.
Speaking to Politico on condition of anonymity for fearing of being victimized by the company, our source accused the company of treating them with disrespect and discrimination. He said when the company reopened in 2002, it comprised mostly Sierra Leonean staff who were refurbishing the mines, adding that the company’s quarters were in bad shape because business was bad. Our source said when the company eventually recovered, the Chief Operating Officer, Andy Taylor who is married to a South African, recruited many South Africans in the company and as a result, many sierra Leonean were moved from their quarters at Mobimbi and relocated to Panguma, where he said facilities were poor with three supervisors sharing a toilet. He noted that before the company close as a result of the civil war, senior local staff were not sharing quarters with their colleagues. He said when the European Union gave a grant of about 25 million Euros to the government of Sierra Leone to refurbishment of the mines, the money was used mostly
for the purchase of machinery, at the expense of refurbishing quarters. Therefore only the Bachelors Quarters
(B-Quarters) were rehabilitated at Mobimbi.
Our source said local staff at the Sierra Rutile Company had no union that could seek their interests. He said they had a hospitality industry called All Terrain Services (ATS) that provided food for senior and intermediate staff but pointed out that the ATS did not provide options for their food consumption. He said they had to eat what was available, which he described as substandard. He said before they went on hunger strike, the company’s human resource manager, Angella Nalson went unannounced into their quarters and later came out claiming that a lot of bottled water supplied to them for drinking purposes were stored in their rooms. He said Madam Nalson accused them of keeping the water with the intension of selling them to the public. He said Madam Nalson threatened that the company would reduce its quota of water to the local staff as a consequence.
He said when Chief Executive Officer of Sierra Rutile, John Sisay first went to the mining site following their hunger strike action, he said they thought the CEO would mediate to resolve the matter. He said to their disappointment, Sisay resorted to insulting and intimidating them.
The National Chairman for Campaign for Just Mining, Leslie Mboka corroborated most of the allegations, describing the practice as “corporate apartheid, corporate arrogance” and a national disgrace especially when the CEO of the company is a Sierra Leonean”.
The CEO of Sierra Rutile, John Sisay could not be reached for his reaction when the story broke because his confidential secretary told Politico that he was out of the country. However, the Chief Executive Officer of Elixir Marketing and Media for Sierra Rutile Company, Sheka Forna said he could not confirm whether the workers were on hunger strike or not. He admitted that he had heard about “some issues between workers and the company” a relationship he said was common between mining companies and workers in the country.
On the allegation of the EU grant for the refurbishment of the mines, which was said to have been used to purchase machinery leaving out the refurbishment of staff quarters, Forna described it as “mistaking the standing of what refurbishment means”. He said the funds were meant for the purchase of machinery, road construction and improvement of the conditions of workers among other things. Forna also denied the allegation that the workers were denied choice of food provided by the All Terrain Services. He said ATS catered quality African and Western dishes for its workers. He also denied claims that workers of the company lacked a mining association, pointing out that “there is a union that all mining workers belong to”. He said “if the workers are claiming that they had concern about their food and water, they should have raised it with the ATS unit”.
