Some 280 workers at the Land of Canaan operation of Barama Company Limited are likely to be made redundant today as the company shuts down its operation after negligence on the part of four workers resulted in the boiler being permanently damaged.
Yesterday this newspaper learnt that the boiler will take nearly a year or more to be replaced. This is according to a specialist who was flown in from Malaysia.
And one worker is upset since he believes that the company is trying to blame him for the incident which he says is not his fault.
Requesting anonymity, the mechanic said that the fault lies with the operator who had last serviced the boiler. The operator, he said, had forgotten to turn on the valve that allows water to run into the boiler after he serviced it.
Last Monday, it was discovered that “cold water got in the hot system” and completely damaged the boiler, the mechanic said. The mechanic explained that the boiler processes the steam to dry the wood. The Land of Canaan operation processes plywood.
“My problem is that I serve the company 17 year and they saying they won’t give severance,” the mechanic said. He added further that the other workers who will be made redundant, some of whom have been working at the company for longer than he has, are not satisfied with the severance being offered by the company.
He said that last Tuesday after the discovery of the damaged boiler, the company notified the workers of its intent to let them go via a meeting. The workers along with their union representative, the Guyana Labour Union (GLU), will meet company officials again today to finalise arrangements.
Meanwhile, General Secretary of the GLU Carvil Duncan yesterday confirmed that Barama is closing its operations at Land of Canaan. “First of all the redundancy is not the fault of the management, it is the carelessness of some workers,” he said.
However, he said the company has assured the union that it will honour its obligations according to the collective agreement. “We are assured by the company that they will honour the agreement, including outstanding leave and one month in lieu of notice.”
The company, Duncan added, indicated to him that this will begin from October 15 which is today. From his understanding, Duncan said, an expert has announced that the boiler has to be replaced and this will take “nearly a year if not longer” hence the action by Barama.
Duncan said he will be meeting with the management and workers today for the first time since being notified about the matter.
Duncan has neither met nor spoken with the four persons being blamed for the damage but he said the union is prepared to defend the men if that is required.
Efforts to contact officials of the timber company for a comment were unsuccessful yesterday.
This is not the first time that workers at the Land of Canaan operation have faced termination of their jobs. Back in October of 2007, the company threatened to lay off workers because of heavy fines from the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC).
The GFC had imposed over $96 million in fines on the company which was accused of underutilizing its concession while tapping logs in other concessions. However, workers were spared after intervention by the Ministry of Agriculture and talks with their union.
Later on that same year, the Land of Canaan operation was rumoured to be facing closure because of unavailability of peeler logs. In December, the company had announced that it would have to close the factory for a few months to allow time to accumulate and build up stock of Baromalli, the main species of peeler logs used for plywood processing.
Workers again were uncertain of their fate but it was the Agriculture Ministry which once again intervened. The ministry had facilitated access to raw materials for the plywood factory in the interest of the affected workers.
Barama Company Limited was established in Guyana since 1991 and is owned by Asian Logging company, Samling Global Limited.
The Land of Canaan operation has a plywood factory and sawmill while the Buckhall operation in Essequibo also has a sawmill, log pond and is the point of entry of the company’s forest concession.
With big plans for plywood manufacturing and export from its huge 4.1 million acres northwest concession, the company has fallen far short of expectations and has frequently incurred the wrath of regulators.
A worker died at Buck Hall recently under mysterious circumstances when he was apparently caught in a chipper.
