IN PRAISE OF WORKERS

Madam President, May 1 is International Workers Day. Happy International Workers Day. This is time to reflect on the contributions of the workers of Liberia to the building and re-building of our Country.

Let us remember the workers of the Liberian Mining Company (LMC) under the leadership of Mr. Ben Kiahon as they requested peacefully for their just benefits on account of the closure of LMC in the mid-1970s. The state was swift to respond through violence, as hundreds of workers were beaten up and got wounded. Their leader Kiahon led with a patriotic stance, providing non-violent leadership in raising public awareness about the plight of LMC workers. Through publications in the newspaper of the All People's Freedom Alliance, an arm of the Movement for Justice in Africa (MOJA), the news of the plight of LMC workers spread far and wide. Mr. Kiahon was invited to Senegal to address an International Conference. At that Conference, he spoke of how LMC workers were determined to continue to attend to their problems peacefully. Hats off to the Kiahon leadership.

One of the LMC workers later became the Commissioner of Woloken in the then Grand Gedeh County of the late 1970's but now River Gee County . Although the people of Woloken were not accustomed to have their men getting married to women from other places, the Commissioner's Wife, whom he had met at LMC, hailed from Lofa County , within the same District as that of the current Vice President of Liberia. The Project Manager of Susukuu at the time also came from the same District in Lofa County , and the people of Woloken began to think well of Foya District. Hats off to our workers in their promotion of national unity.

1978 was a landmark year for Liberian workers because it marked the year of path-breaking negotiations between the workers and the management of the Liberian-American-Swedish Minerals Company (LAMCO). The LAMCO workers, led by their President Aloysius Kie, demonstrated awareness and discipline in negotiations, done at the Ducor Hotel in Monrovia . The transformation of the negotiations conventional posture from giving wages primacy to laying principal emphasis on the environment and education of dependents left management at once confused and spellbound. At the end of the negotiations, the Agreement was acclaimed internationally as one of the best agreements between workers and management of the mining sector world-wide. Hats of to the world-class achievement of Liberian workers.

The peaceful unifying experience from the mining sector is the background to the current unifying activities among the workers of Liberia . We can only wish our workers well and encourage them as they strive for unity, peace and progress. What our workers do in this direction is bound to be good for our Country.

As we praise our workers and their leaders, let us not forget the Great One, the leader among leaders, the late Secretary General of the Liberian Federation of Labor Unions (LFLU), Amos Gray. More than anyone else, leader Gray promoted the good image of Liberian workers world-wide. May his soul and the souls of all other departed workers rest in peace. Let us bring this commentary to a closure with some words from the International Anthem of Workers:

 

SOLIDARITY FOREVER ! SOLIDARITY FOREVER !! FOR THE UNION MAKES US STRONG

 

Happy International Workers Day to the Workers of Liberia .