-urges ministry intervention

The Guyana Postal and Telecommunication Workers Union (GPTWU) has voiced its disapproval over the recent actions by the Rusal owned Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc (BCGI) and is calling on the Labour Ministry to intervene to protect the rights of workers.

The GPTWU, in a release, said the existing impasse between the BCGI and the Guyana Bauxite & General Workers Union (GB&GWU) started as a struggle for improved wages and working conditions but has “today become a clear struggle for universal rights and respect for the laws of Guyana.”  According to the GPTWU, the management of the company has acted illegally by dismissing and suspending workers, including the elected leaders of the union, during strike action by the workers.

The union pointed out that this was a violation of the Trade Union Recognition Act. The union noted that according to section 26 (1) of the Act: “No employee shall be dismissed, or have his employment adversely affected, or his position altered by his employer, by reason of the circumstances that the worker- (a) is an officer, delegate or member of a trade union.”

The GPTWU is also concerned over the decision of the company to terminate the collective labour agreement and pointed out that this too was illegal. The union stated that the engagement between the BCGI and the GB&GWU is a legal agreement and could only be nullified by the courts. The union also said that attempts by the company to de-recognize the GB&GWU would be actions inconsistent with the Trade Union Recognition Act.

In response to these developments, “the GPTWU calls on the Ministry of Labour, every trade union, every trade unionist and every law-abiding citizen to come out against this new transgression of workers’ rights and the violation of the laws of Guyana.”