A team of senior RUSAL officials is to visit Guyana to investigate a complaint by the Trades Union Congress on behalf of Aroaima workers against the General Manager of Operations here, Ruslan Volokhov.
In the meanwhile, Volokhov has proceeded on leave to enable the probe.
On Friday, the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) called on the RUSAL subsidiary Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc (BCGI) and the government to sanction Volokhov after he allegedly threatened employees.
According to a release from the GTUC, the workers lodged a complaint that two Sundays ago the company official threatened them with physical violence. The threat, the release said, “was made to the workers when they were in the company’s bus at the camp site.” According to the workers, the threat was sparked by their inability to attend work on time on Sunday, since there was no water to shower because the pump at the site was cut off, due to some problem. The water returned at 9 am on Sunday morning.
The matter has not been reported to the police. President of the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU) Leslie Gonsalves, when contacted, said that there are several reasons why neither the workers nor the union chose to report the matter. The union, Gonsalves said, is committed to having the matter addressed.
The GTUC said that it was “very disturbed by this new development and threat to the workers of this country” and it called on BCGI “to sanction [the official’s] actions, and call on the Government of Guyana to sanction BCGI to protect the rights of Guyanese labour.”
A statement from RUSAL today said that following the receipt of the statement from the GTUC its headquarters appointed a committee comprised of senior managers to probe the matter. “Upon completion of (the) investigation, the company will take such actions as deemed appropriate”, the statement added.
BCGI has had a long-running industrial dispute with the GB&GWU over sacked workers.
