Striking bauxite workers step up protest

– block roads, police sent in

By Cathy Richards

Three persons were arrested and later released yesterday morning as striking workers stepped up protest action by blocking the main access roads at RUSAL Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated (BCGI) Aroaima and Kwakwani locations.

It was the fourth day of strike action by workers of BCGI after the company and the General Bauxite Workers Union (GBWU)  failed to agree on the terms of resumption at a meeting officiated by Chief Labour Officer Yoganand Persaud on Tuesday in Aroaima.

According to GBWU President Charles Sampson and Acting General Secretary Leslie Gonsalves, the two parties could not see eye to eye on the terms of resumption. “They put forward some points they wanted in the terms of resumption and we accepted but we did not get their cooperation when we put forward our points to be enshrined in the document and so the strike continues,” Sampson said.

Stabroek News understands that the union was negotiating for the company to withdraw letters of suspension which were issued to some workers who had proceeded on strike on Sunday morning. Following the meeting, the results were communicated to workers.
Yesterday morning, workers took a decision to take their protest action to another level.

They turned out in large numbers at both the Maple Town, Aroaima and Kwakwani locations and proceeded to block several areas in the communities.

Stabroek News was told that three protestors were arrested and taken into custody after the police removed the material used to block the road and the three allegedly assisted in replacing it. According to reliable sources, following the intervention of Gonsalves, the three were released.
Things got a bit heated when senior ranks from the police’s ‘E’ and ‘F’ Division arrived in Maple Town and attempted to convince the workers to remove the road blocks. Protesters held their ground and did not move. At the Kwakwani end, where a smaller group of protestors was gathered, there was less tension.

When Stabroek News arrived at the Kwakwani airstrip location, where the protestors had erected a tent and a roadblock, they were preventing persons who they deemed “strike breakers” from entering the mining site.

Sometime after 5 pm, the Guyana Defence Force Sky-van landed at the Kwakwani airstrip, with some ten heavily armed police officers. Upon their arrival, protestors became agitated. “All the time we deh here struggling fuh we rights and nobody, not even de media come fuh hear wa we got to say. Now dem Babylon come here with all dem gun and thing and trying to stop we from exercising we rights. This could never be fair,” one protestor said.

Another said, “De Russian create this fuh dem selves. They give us three options and tell we to choose one and when we choose they vex with we and trying to frustrate we. No money. No work.”

Following a brief negotiation between the protestors at Kwakwani and senior police officers, they agreed to remove the tent and wooden plank which were placed across the road. However, the workers insisted that they would remain at the location and formed a human blockade. A few ranks remained at the Kwakwani scene while a larger party left for Maple Town.

The blocks at the two locations prevented ingress and egress of workers of the company. At Maple Town, it was reported that all the entrances to the mines, administration and plant locations were blocked. Stabroek News understands that several of the Russian expatriates and their families left the two locations out of fear for their safety. It was also reported that most supervisors were sent home, bringing operations at the bauxite company to an almost complete halt.

Workers and the union said they are prepared for the long haul and would continue the protest action until their demands are met.