By By: The People News
The Executive Director of the Movement Against Bad Labor Practices, Societal Ills, and Injustice, Mr. Harris D. Carto, has made a special appeal to the Minister of Labor, Hon. Cllr. Cooper Kruah, to immediately revoke the operating permit of a company known as Trust Service Company.
According to Mr. Carto, Trust Service Company poses a serious threat to national development within the labor sector, and its continued operation undermines the rights of Liberian workers. He emphasized that the Ministry of Labor issued the company’s permit and, therefore, bears the responsibility to revoke it.
Mr. Carto revealed that investigations conducted by his organization uncovered a collaboration between Trust Service Company and certain officials within the Ministry of Labor. He stated that the Ministry had granted permits to qualified Liberians to hire contractors under Article 42 of the Decent Work Act (DWA)— a provision that allows them to engage and contract labor services.
However, during an assessment tour of the National Industrial Park in Gardnersville and other business entities across Monrovia, the Movement discovered that Trust Service Company had taken over many of these workplaces as an employment agent. According to Mr. Carto, the company recruits Liberians and assigns them to various companies as employees, contractors, or daily hires — all while denying them their basic labor rights guaranteed under the Decent Work Act.
The investigation further revealed that Trust Service Company operates with the alleged support of certain Ministry of Labor officials. Mr. Carto named **Mr. Papa Kamara as the company’s Chief Executive Officer and Atty. Wyma Blaye Simpson, former Assistant Minister for Labor Standards, as its Human Resource Officer at the National Beverages Company. He added that several other staff members of the company have been assigned to various entities, where they continue to expand their influence.
One of the most recent cases involves FUANI Brothers Inc., where Trust Service Company reportedly signed a five-year contract. Workers at the company, however, are said to be strongly opposed to the arrangement. They have allegedly refused to sign the company’s employment forms, citing unfair labor practices and poor treatment.
Mr. Carto noted that the activities of Trust Service Company have encouraged other companies to avoid hiring workers directly. Instead, they now prefer to employ contractors or daily hires — a practice that has persisted since the company’s establishment in 2013.
“The Ministry of Labor, under the watchful eyes of Minister Cllr. Kruah, is fully aware of these bad labor practices but has failed to take decisive action,” Mr. Carto said. He described the situation as “regrettable” and criticized the current administration for continuing with what he termed an “organized setup” inherited from the previous regime.
He also revealed that the Ministry has granted two separate permits to Trust Service Company, allowing it to operate under multiple categories. As evidence, he displayed two identification cards — one labeled “Contractor, Trust Service Company” and the other “Factory Worker, Trust Service Company.”
Mr. Carto and the Movement Against Bad Labor Practices, Societal Ills, and Injustice are calling on Minister Kruah to immediately revoke Trust Service Company’s permit and compel companies currently working with the firm to offer permanent employment to their workers.
He also urged the Ministry to ensure that these companies establish **formal labor unions to promote dialogue and protect workers’ rights under the Decent Work Act.
