Gonsalves, other union representatives and fired workers of the company, staged a picketing exercise in the city yesterday urging Labour Minister Manzoor Nadir to intervene in the dispute between the union and the RUSAL subsidiary BCGI. The union and the company have been at loggerheads since November.
Yesterday, Gonsalves disclosed that the union has since written to the Secretary of the Trade Union Recognition and Certification Board (TUR&CB) Yoganand Persaud seeking the board’s ruling on an application to have the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU) derecognized as the bargaining unit for the bauxite workers of the BCGI. “The union is of the view that the TUR&CB is either being dragged into this corruption, or sad to say Justice Persaud’s authority is being usurped to perpetuate acts of law breaking and discrimination,” Gonsalves said. Last week, Nadir told Stabroek News that the TUR&CB is currently considering an application by workers to have the GB&GWU derecognized.
Gonsalves told media operatives yesterday that the union intended to intensify its struggle by putting the truth to the public using different methods. Workers have signed a petition which was dispatched to President Bharrat Jagdeo, Opposition Leader Robert Corbin, TUR&CB Chairman Justice Prem Persaud, Acting General Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) Norris Witter and to Minister Nadir. Currently, Gonsalves said, the union is engaged in a worldwide petition carried in seven different languages seeking to bring the attention to the illegality and demanding that the minister intervene. Asked about support from local trade union bodies, Gonsalves said that while some have indicated their support, he was not expecting support from some sections. However, he noted that the GPSU has called for dialogue with the GB&GWU.
Meanwhile PNCR Vice-Chairman Basil Williams yesterday called for the immediate reinstatement of the 58 dismissed workers and urged the administration to put an end “to the flagrant violations of Guyana’s laws” and the attempts to derecognise the GB&GWU.
Speaking at the PNCR’s weekly press conference, Williams said that recent disclosures by Nadir about the operations of the TUR&CB reveal the government’s hegemony over that body. Further, Williams said, “the TUR&CB has long been accused of facilitating the growth of pro-government unions at the expense of unions perceived to be not favourable to the government.”
The vice-chairman said “NAACIE has been such a beneficiary and it is no coincidence that this erstwhile sugar union, has been fingered by the GB&GWU, as being the union seeking to poach on its bargaining unit.” However, NAACIE General Secretary Kenneth Joseph has refuted these suggestions.
The union has also written to the Chief Labour Officer and the Ethnic Relations Committee (ERC) on the issue.
