Dear Editor,
Reference is made to the article, `Union urges govt intervention in impasse with bauxite company’ Stabroek News, December 25, 2009. The Ministry of Labour has the lead role and legal responsibility to conciliate in industrial relations issues and must be held accountable to discharge its mandate. The dispute (wages increase and strike) is before the Ministry of Labour and it must deal with it. In industrial relations principles, Resumption of Work after a strike does not only mean a physical return but also includes the protection of all rights and benefits workers were entitled to prior to taking strike action.

Failing to resolve the outstanding issues -including the 80 workers off the job and other fallouts from the strike – or arrive at an agreement on Terms of Resumption between the Bauxite Company Guyana Inc. (BCGI) and Guyana Bauxite & Guyana Workers Union (GB&GWU) for the return to normalcy at the worksite indicates that a strike still exists.  The Ministry is fully aware of these facts, its duty, the industrial relations principles, procedures and laws applicable to resolution. To now say that no strike exists is an abandonment of its responsibility and must not be accepted or condoned.

Further, the Ministry did not indicate to the union its decision to abandon the process which is unprincipled and unacceptable. This stand exposes the workers to the company’s continued violation of their rights and the rule of law. The Ministry need not wait for a letter from the union when the issues are already before it and by law has the lead responsibility to ensure that the matter is resolved or declared a deadlock which then paves the way for arbitration based on the Grievance Procedure in the Collective Labour Agreement. Its failure to declare a deadlock and give the parties the opportunity to determine whether they will go to arbitration is yet another abandonment of its responsibility.  In the Collective Labour Agreement between the BCGI and GB&GWU, the Ministry has a conciliating role in arriving at the Terms of Reference for Arbitration and the selection of the

Arbitrator(s).  No party can proceed to activate arbitration or any other course of action unless the Ministry so declared its inability to resolve the issues before it and declare a deadlock.

De-recognition is a clear non-issue since the Trade Union Recognition Act, Chapter 98:07, Section 22 (1) is clear on the issue of recognition and de-recognition.

According to this law no employer can terminate a Collective Labour Agreement during its life or de-recognise a union and anyone who accepts otherwise or regurgitates BCGI’s illegal and comical actions is a party to the lawlessness. Based on this Act the issues under threat are respect for the Right to Freedom of Association as outlined in Sections 2(2) and 26(2)(a); Recognition, Sections 22 (1), 23(1) and 23(3); Resumption to Work of all employees, Sections 26 (1)(a) and 26(3), and; the Collective Labour Agreement, Section 28. These issues have emerged during the strike and have to be addressed during the discussions in arriving at Terms of Resumption.

The Ministry knows this, too.

This situation is a clear attack on fundamental rights and the violation in this instance is with the Ministry who is not upholding its legal responsibility. The environment right now is volatile and exposes the workers to be treated as being absent without permission, open to discrimination by the employer, their services considered broken, being placed in lower jobs with lower pay, denial of promotion and being assigned same task and paid less.

This is unhealthy and the Ministry has to enforce its legal responsibility to protect the

workers’ rights or be held responsible for exposing them to hazardous and discriminatory treatment.

These industrial principles, procedures, practices and laws are known to the Ministry’s officials who are also aware of the violations and potential threats and they cannot and must not be allowed to abandon their responsibility to the bauxite workers under the Laws of Guyana.

Yours faithfully,
Lincoln Lewis