Dear Editor,
Not everything you hear from the Bauxite Company Guyana Inc is true. There are still many workers on strike and production is nowhere near where it should be. The media should really come to Kwakwani and see for themselves. Workers are still supporting the strike but some have gone back to work because they have bills to pay and children to feed. The ones who have gone back have been forced to sign a form which says that they do not want to be members of the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union. If you do not sign this form you cannot work. People know it is not right, but they are scared if they do not sign they would not get to work. One worker who refused to sign was insulted and asked to leave the site immediately, or the company would have the security remove him. It feels as though workers do not have any say and in order to make a living they have to sell their birthright.
Many Kwakwani families have been bauxite workers and farmers all their lives since the days of Reynolds, and this is the first time anyone has been forced to sign a form to leave a union just to keep their job. Somebody please look into this matter urgently. It is really not right.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)
