Deal #1396

Employees are paid US$120 per month. The company employs roughly 2000 locals throughout their plantations. More than 1100 employees in 2015 on the Butaw plantation - employment was suspended after the riots in May 2015, with less than half of the employees returning in July 2015. The company has since laid off 330 employees in an effort to scale back the Butaw plantation. 3600 people have been employed to date (September 2017). In May 2021 it was reported that around 443 workers. were fired by GVL to grapple with the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and a slump in the price of palm oil on the world market. GVL has also failed to live up to employment terms in MoUs it signed with the communities. The MoUs mandate GVL to employ one person per six hectares. That has never been done. In Butaw, for instance, it has hired less than half of the number of residents it agreed to employ. Several of those who are employed in the mill and plantation complained to Bloomberg of low wages and arduous working conditions, with some saying they work seven days a week for $150 a month. In October 2021, it was reported that Sixteen former workers of Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL) have received their severance benefits following a settlement with the company, one year and eight months after they filed a complaint with the Sinoe County Labor Office over their illegal dismissals.