Nord Gold’s Unit in Burkina Faso in Pay Dispute With Ex-Workers

(Bloomberg) -- Nord Gold NV’s unit in Burkina Faso is facing a dispute with 116 ex-employees who say they were fired illegally a year ago after a strike to demand higher pay.

The management of Bissa Gold SA has refused to pay overtime and bonuses owed to their former workers, Abdoul Rasmane Guelbeogo, spokesman of the group, said in an interview Thursday in the capital, Ouagadougou. A former laboratory technician, Guelbeogo said workers organized the strike in October last year because they were unhappy with the pay gap between Burkinabe nationals and foreign employees.

“If they can’t give us our jobs back, they need to pay what they owe us,” Guelbeogo said. “We’ve obtained 60 million CFA francs from the company, but it’s not enough.” That amount is the equivalent of $99,327.

Bissa Gold is trying to find an “amicable and definitive solution” to the dispute, the company said in an e-mailed statement signed by general manager Marcus Brewster. “The parties have agreed that the points of contention will be submitted to the competent authorities for them to decide.” The matter is now before a court of appeal, according to Guelbeogo.

Nord Gold, owned by Russian billionaire Alexey Mordashov, is the second-largest gold miner in Burkina Faso since it began production at the nearby Bouly site in September, according to the company website.

To contact the reporter on this story: Simon Gongo in Ouagadougou at sgongo@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Karl Maier at kmaier2@bloomberg.net, Pauline Bax, Robert Brand