FUAMAH, Bong – China Union Investment Liberia Limited has announced additional layoffs for over 100 of its employees.

The company behind one of Liberia’s largest investment in modern history – worth US$ 2.6 billion – is struggling to remain afloat due to an unfavorable climate in the iron ore market.

China Union has blamed its misfortunes on the downward trend of the price of iron ore, which in Dec. 2015 dropped to 30 percent of its Dec. 2011 price. Prices rose steadily in 2016 but still is only 40 percent of the Dec. 2011 mark.

The Chinese government-owned company has faced severe losses as a result. Since 2015, it has halted its mining operations and has been shedding its workforce.

In a press release dated Dec. 29, 2016, CEO Zhi Xiang Li said the iron ore industry is facing a bad climate that has changed from “winter to freezing.”

“The Bong Mines project is also suffering huge losses and was forced to turn to intermittent production in August 2015,” the press release read. Zhi also noted that the company is struggling to survive, but stressed the need to protect the economic and diplomatic ties between Liberia and China.

In the middle of 2016, China Union released about 180 employees and turned over the Bong Mines Hospital to the government. As part of a 25-year mineral development agreement with the Liberian government, China Union was responsible for operating the Bong Mines Hospital, which is the only referral hospital in lower Bong.

Meanwhile, dismissed employees are accusing the company of failing to live up to the collective backing agreement signed in 2015.

The former workers say the CBA called for an increase in salary sixty days after signing the CBA, but the company has not yet implemented the provisions. They are demanding that the money they are owed be included in their layoff packages.

When contacted, China Union’s public relations officer, Morris Taye, did not confirm or deny that the management did not honor its part of the CBA.

Taye told The Bush Chicken via phone that if the workers had any claims against the management, they should take up the issue with their workers union, which would engage with the management on the workers’ behalf.

The union’s president, Kesselle Sumo, was dismissed in December 2015 by the management for allegedly inciting workers against management after he advocated for an increase in salary.

Featured photo by Zeze Ballah