The Ghana Mineworkers’ Union (GMWU) says Ghana’s mining industry is turning workers into “commodities”, with thousands of miners allegedly trapped in insecure jobs, earning less, losing benefits and facing worsening workplace conditions.
The Union made the allegations in a strongly worded petition presented to the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, on Thursday, August 20, 2026, during a protest against what it describes as a deepening labour crisis in the mining sector.
The union raised concerns over the growing use of contract mining, outsourcing and labour brokers, which it says has gradually replaced the permanent and stable employment that historically characterised Ghana’s mining industry. For the workers, says the situation has become particularly worrying under the Minerals and Mining (Local Content and Local Participation) Regulations, 2020 (L.I. 2431), which it argues has facilitated the fragmentation of mining operations and the outsourcing of core activities to contractors.
Over 95% of Miners Trapped in Precarious Work
According to the Union, the transformation of the mining labour market has been dramatic. The Union’s data says that by the end of 2024, more than 90% of workers in the mining sector were already engaged in fixed-term or casual employment, with permanent employment accounting for less than 10%.
The Union claims the situation has deteriorated further in 2026, with more than 95% of the industry’s workforce now allegedly caught in fixed-term contracts and casual employment. The workers say represents more than a change in employment arrangements. It means workers are increasingly living with uncertainty over their jobs, incomes, pensions and future.
The Union says workers under these arrangements have weaker employment protection, reduced access to collective bargaining and greater exposure to workplace risks.
The Downsides of Contract Mining
The Union’s strongest opposition is directed at the growing transition from owner mining to contract mining. It argues that workers performing the same jobs under contractors can earn substantially less than those directly employed by mining companies.
The petition claims that workers transferred to contractors can see their wages cut by at least half in some cases, while another section of the petition puts the wage gap between directly employed workers and contractors at between 30% and 50%.
The bemoan that lower wages mean lower personal income tax payments, lower pension contributions and ultimately lower retirement benefits for workers. Workers also risk losing benefits they previously enjoyed under direct employment, including medical cover, provident funds, gratuities and other conditions of service.
The Growing Labour Brokers
The leader of protest, Abdul-Moomin Gbana, the general secretary of the union, in presenting the petition to the Minister, also raised alarm over the emergence of labour brokerage as a growing feature of the mining industry. He accuses some labour brokers and mining companies, particularly some Chinese-owned mining companies, of using labour agencies to obtain workers cheaply and maximise profitsThe Union says the practice has reduced labour to a commodity that can be bought and sold at the lowest possible cost.
It argues that this is especially troubling because the workers involved include highly skilled professionals such as mining engineers, geologists and metallurgists.
This localisation of the mining industry, GMWU says, should improve opportunities and conditions for Ghanaian workers, not create a system where Ghanaian labour is supplied cheaply to mining companies and contractors.
Wages, Pensions and Benefits at Risk
The Union says the problems are also visible in the failure or delays by some contractors to meet basic obligations to workers. Among the grievances listed in the petition are:
Delays in paying workers’ salaries and wages;
Non-payment of provident fund contributions and terminal gratuities;
Failure or delays in paying first- and second-tier pension contributions;
Alleged non-payment of taxes;
Protracted negotiations over wages and conditions of service;
Inadequate medical insurance and social protection;
Reduced pension benefits resulting from lower wages and unpaid contributions.
The GMWU further alleges that cost-cutting by contractors has contributed to inadequate personal protective equipment and a higher incidence of unrecorded workplace injuries. It says the consequences are particularly serious in an industry where workers routinely operate in hazardous environments.
The Issue Local Content: Opportunity or exploitation?
Importantly, the Union says it is not opposed to local content, investment or greater participation by Ghanaian businesses in mining. Its objection is to what it describes as the way local content is being implemented.
According to the GMWU, outsourcing core mining activities such as drilling, mining and processing to contractors under poorly funded contracts has created a race to the bottom, where contractors attempt to survive by cutting labour costs. The Union argues that local content should retain more value in Ghana and create sustainable jobs, but says it must not do so at the expense of the workers producing that value.
“Local content must therefore create opportunities for all Ghanaians,” the Union argues, warning that it must not become a mechanism for enriching a small group of contractors while workers receive lower wages and weaker protections.
According to the union, the protest was also triggered by a directive issued by the Minerals Commission to Zijin, Newmont and AngloGold Ashanti to transition their owner-mining operations to contract mining by December 2026.
The Union says its more than 14,000 members across the mining industry reject the Minerals Commission’s directive in its current form and are dissatisfied with what they describe as unilateral and “lopsided” implementation of local content rules and administrative directives by the Commission.
The Demands
First, it wants the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to halt and reverse the growing precarity in mining employment and align mineral policy with decent work standards.
It is also demanding decisive regulatory action against fixed-term contracts, casualisation, disguised employment, unsafe working conditions and exploitative outsourcing.
Most importantly, the Union wants the Ministry to suspend any further directives compelling or pressuring mining companies to move core operations from owner mining to contract mining until the proposed Technical Committee completes a comprehensive assessment of the economic and social impact on workers.
The Bottomline
For the union, workers welfare cannot be sacrificed for growth and local content. It argues that keeping more mining activity in Ghana means little if the workers performing the jobs are left underpaid, insecure and without adequate social protection.
The Union says Ghana cannot claim to be retaining value from its mineral wealth while the people who extract that wealth are increasingly pushed into precarious employment.
The GMWU insists that economic growth must improve human welfare rather than treat workers as disposable inputs into the production process.
As Ghana enjoys strong mineral revenues and high gold prices, the Union wants the government to confront what it describes as insecure jobs, depressed wages, weakened worker protections and a growing gap between the value workers create and what they receive.
