Chief Labour Officer (CLO) Yoganand Persaud is refuting a statement from the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU) in which it claimed that he was “a no show” for a scheduled meeting with the union and the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc (BCGI).
The meeting, according to a release from the union, was called to address the prolonged impasse between the two parties and was scheduled to move the process forward in addressing the issue of the 57 workers who were fired without their rights to due process respected.
Efforts by Stabroek News on Thursday to get a response from the ministry were unsuccessful but Persaud yesterday contacted this newspaper saying that the article was misleading. According to the CLO, early Thursday he told union representatives that he was having a meeting that morning with officials from the International Labour Organisation (ILO). That meeting, he said, ended around 12.50 pm at which time neither parties were present.
Persaud said he instructed his staff to tell the union and BCGI officials that he would be back shortly and left with the ILO officials. He added that he returned around 1.20 pm and only the union officials were present. Persaud said he enquired of his staff if they had informed the representatives that he would be back shortly to which they responded in the affirmative.
The CLO said he also had a senior officer ready to set up the meeting until he returned but was told the BCGI officials left. He added that he called the BCGI officials in the presence of the union officers and was told by them that no courtesy had been extended to let them know of his absence, a claim he rejected.
According to Persaud, he found the BCGI officials’ departure “disrespectful” and he dubbed the union’s subsequent statement about him being a no show as “dishonest.”
The union had stated on Thursday that when it called the CLO’s office subsequently to enquire about his no show they were told that he was in a meeting with the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU).
“The ministry’s failure…to attend a meeting that it scheduled and…its refusal to practice the basic courtesy of informing the parties as to the unavailability of the Chief Labour Officer, who was at a meeting with GAWU, confirms that the rights of bauxite workers are unimportant to this government,” the release stated.
However, Persaud yesterday said that the meeting with GAWU occurred after the time set aside for the one with the bauxite workers union and BCGI and he was at a loss as to why the union would have contacted his office subsequently since he spoke to their union officials upon his return to office.
