Monrovia, Liberia – A group of demonstrators calling themselves “Redundant USTC Workers” have petitioned the Supreme Court, praying the court to rule that the Coca-Cola bottling company’s management must provide their rightful benefits.
In the case of Redundant USTC Workers vs the United States Trading Company, the Supreme Court ruled on August 17, 2004, requiring management to either restore the wrongly fired employees or provide them with their benefits. Nevertheless, the decision has not been properly enforced for twenty-two years, a circumstance that led the USTC employees who were laid off to petition the highest court.
“The Supreme Court heard the appeal and on August 17, 2004, now a period of over Twenty Years, handed down its Ruling/Judgment in favor of the INFORMANTS, the USTC Redundant
Workers. Informants most respectfully request Your Honors to take judicial notice of the herein-referenced Judgment/Opinion of the Honorable Supreme Court as recorded in 42 LLR 243, 258 (2004). Hence, INFORMANTS file this BILL OF INFORMATION, respectfully begging Your Honors’ timely consideration by ordering the full and proper execution and enforcement of this Court’s Mandate of August 17, 2004, without further delays and adjournments.”
The Informant claims that the National Labour Court and the presiding judge were required by the Opinion delivered by Mr. Justice Ishmeal P. Campbel “to resume jurisdiction and order the hearing officer to determine how many employees were replaced with new employees so that those replaced can be reinstated or be paid in lieu of reinstatement as follows:
Employees with 15–19 years of service should receive 24 months; plaintiffs/appellees with 10–14 years of service should receive 19 months; those with 5–9 years of service should receive 14 months; those with 1–4 years of service should receive 8 months; and those who were within five years of retirement as of July 2, 1990, should receive the total salary of five years each.
Nonetheless, as of the date this Bill of Information was filed on February 13, 2025, the aforementioned explicit mandate of the Supreme Court of last resort, which was issued on August 17, 2004, more than TWENTY (20) years ago, is still lingering in the depths of doubt, despair, and unfathomable annoyance.
The informant also told the Supreme Court that the records that are currently available demonstrate that, in accordance with the Supreme Court’s August 17, 2004, mandate, the Presiding Judge of the National Labour Court, Her Honour Comfort Natt, ordered the Ministry of Labour’s Hearing Office, Director of Labour Standards, Mr. Nathaniel Dickerson, to “calculate the benefits of the wrongfully dismissed employees of the USTC, as was directed by the Supreme Court in its August 17, 2004 Opinion.”
However, they have not been able to locate any records or conclusive material that would show the Court’s mandate was carried out correctly and definitively in accordance with the directives found in the August 17, 2004, Supreme Court Opinion.
According to the informant, the Hearing Officer asked the parties, the former workers and the USTC management to provide his office with all relevant data, including the payroll records of the employees, including the years of service records. According to the informants, they have not discovered any documentation demonstrating that the Respondent USTC has followed the court’s directive.
Reported by: G Bennie Bravo Johnson, I.
