As a concerned citizen and a worker in this country who fears the same could happen in the organization in which I work, I am calling on President Jagdeo to intervene and put an end to this depressing dispute in the bauxite industry, and launch an investigation into the Ministry of Labour to find out why Mr Manzoor Nadir and Mr Yoganand Persaud did not carry out their responsibilities by organizing a meeting and making sure BCGI and GB&GWU attended the meeting according to the collective labour agreement (CLA). When the union and the company fail to find a satisfactory settlement, the union may proceed to stage four by writing to the Chief Labour Officer of the Ministry of Labour for the purpose of conciliation, and then the ministry will fix the meeting date for conciliation.
Based on information received from the union the secretary said a letter had been written seeking conciliation in this matter, thus the issue has been at stage four for the last five months. The union stated they wrote several letters to the Ministry of Labour concerning the issue but this has proven to be futile.
The CLA contains signatures of the company, the union and the Chief Labour Officer. No company operating in Guyana can de-recognize any union, neither can they cancel the CLA unless they are above the ILO conventions and the law of Guyana. If President Jagdeo finds following an investigation that Minister Nadir and Yoganand Persaud did not perform their duties properly they should step down.
The five month plus dispute is still going on and the clock is ticking. There are 58 workers and their families, which should be a total of 100 plus persons who are out of bread, while some of them owe bank loans of all types , small loans, home loans, etc . These people are at risk of massive losses and hungry children. When an employer dismisses an employee it’s not just that employee who suffers but his family too.
My question to the PPP/C administration is who will provide regular meals for these employees’ children to keep their brains functioning so that they can acquire education to secure their future? Not to mention the other basic necessities of life.
I would like to appeal to the consciences of Messrs Nadir and Persaud, who have families and who took oaths to serve the citizens of this country.
Mr Mohamed Akeel should be very ashamed of himself for not leading Rusal, a foreign company, to do the right thing.
Yours faithfully,
A Williams
