Dear Editor,
As an observer over the past two months of the deteriorating labour situation between Bauxite Company Guyana Inc (BCGI) and the Guyana Bauxite & General Workers’ Union (GB&GWU), I write to express the view that Russian management has completely ignored Guyanese law and international labour standards by unilaterally de-authourising the union, and terminating some 57 union activists.
The International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine & General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) is a global union federation that examines workplace standards and conditions among multinational companies in 132 countries. What we see occurring now in Guyana between this subsidiary of United Company Rusal and the GB&GWU is another arrogant example of Rusal’s social behaviour related to labour conduct; this company is simply not interested in a good-faith relationship with its workforce through fair and democratic representation by a trade union.
The ICEM did an exhaustive comparison between Rusal and its Bauxite Company of Guinea (CBG), a 51/49 per cent joint venture with the Government of Guinea, and another joint bauxite joint venture in the west African country named Halco, itself a joint venture between the government and two major mining and metal-making corporations, Alcoa and Rio Tinto. What we found were atrocious work conditions, including the use of child labour, at CBG’s Friguia bauxite and alumina operations.
Rusal had a very consistent policy in Guinea of using temporary, short-term workers, but worse, the company allowed its bosses to serve as “labour brokers,” meaning they themselves profited by hiring some of Guinea’s most impoverished citizens in low-paid jobs that had no future. At an ICEM forum in Conakry, Guinea, in March 2009, these practices were exposed and as a result, the managing director of CGB was expelled from the country.
All of Guyana, and particularly those in government positions, should be alarmed at the means BCGI is taking to crush GB&GWU and to terminate any worker who dares stand up for his rights, or the rights of fellow workers. The ICEM supports GB&GWU and strongly believes that resistance to BCGI is in the best interests of Guyanese citizens, the communities in and around Aroaima and Kwakwani, and the economic empowerment of all in Guyana.
Yours faithfully,
Dick Blin
Information Officer
ICEM