PNG Taiheiyo Cement sacks staff

by GABRIEL LAHOC
CEMENT production for the domestic market has been affected by the reported mass sacking of 145 national employees from the sole cement producer, PNG Taiheiyo Cement, based in Lae.
Today will be the first week without work for many mainly in the key processing functions of the plant. They stopped work last Tuesday in protest over poor working conditions.
The workers stopped work because of what they termed as “unsatisfactory response to their petition”.
The plant shutdown and stand-off by the sacked workers means that with the estimated 700 tonnes of cement produced daily, the manufacturer may lose more than 49,000 tonnes in production for that week alone.
On top of that, the delivery ship containing raw materials has been waiting for four days to offload its cargo.
Last Friday afternoon, the workers were verbally told that they, apart from a handful of administration staff, were sacked.
They were notified in a memo on Sa­turday that the plant had been shut down and
they were restricted from entering into the plant.
They were asked through that memo to reapply for their positions.
They have now made their stance known and will stand together as a group and seek advice from the Department of Labour and Industrial Relations against the company.