By Laudia Anyorkor Nunoo, GNA
Tema, July 27, GNA – The Industrial and Commercial Workers’ Union (ICU), Ghana, has appealed to President John Dramani Mahama, to intervene and stop the proposed sale of a 70 per cent equity stake in the Volta Aluminium Company Limited (VALCO).
The ICU described the company as a strategic national asset that should remain under state ownership.
The petition was presented by Mr Morgan Ayawine, the General Secretary of the ICU, to Madam Ebi Bright, the Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), to be forwarded to the president after a protest march by workers through the principal streets of Tema on Monday.
In the petition, the Union indicated in the petition that information available to it indicated that the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) was proceeding with plans to transfer the 70 per cent stake in VALCO to Arch Holdings Consortium.
The Union argued that the proposed transaction would permanently alter the ownership and control of the company despite persistent opposition from the workforce and the national union.
It recalled President Mahama’s 2026 May Day address at Koforidua, in which he urged organised labour not to remain silent when state-owned enterprises were being mismanaged, stressing that workers were often the first to suffer when such institutions collapsed.
The ICU said it was relying on those assurances in appealing for the President’s intervention, maintaining that the proposed sale was not in the long-term interest of the state, the workforce and the Ghanaian people.
The Union said, VALCO had recorded significant operational improvements under its current board and management through a structured five-year optimisation programme aimed at improving efficiency, expanding production capacity and strengthening the company’s competitiveness within the aluminium industry.
It said investments in plant and equipment, infrastructure rehabilitation, operational improvements and workforce development had begun yielding positive results, making this an inappropriate time to relinquish state control of the company.
It further argued that VALCO remained central to Ghana’s integrated aluminium industry and should continue to be wholly owned by the state to safeguard national strategic interests and sustainable employment.
The ICU warned that transferring control of VALCO to a private investor could expose workers to job losses, reduce employee welfare, and have adverse financial implications for the state.
It contended that government, the board, management and workers had collectively invested significant resources in restoring the company to operational stability and growth and that those gains should not be surrendered to private interests.
The Union therefore appealed to the government to reconsider the proposed transaction and called on organised labour, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to support efforts to keep VALCO under state ownership.
It warned that if its concerns were not addressed within a reasonable time, it would consult its appropriate structures to determine its next line of action, which it said, could assume a national character in defence of the company and its workforce.
GNA
Edited by Christabel Addo
Reporter: Laudia Anyorkor Nunoo, GNA
[email protected]