The work environment at the partially state-owned Bauxite Company Guyana Inc (BCGI) is not only inhospitable, it is probably the worst in the country, General Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) Lincoln Lewis has said.
And according to Lewis the responsibility for this lies equally with the government and the majority shareholder, Russian company RUSAL.
Lewis is General Secretary of the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU), which is substantively responsible for the industrial relations at BCGI but which he said has now been sidelined and supplanted by a so-called Workers Council imposed by the RUSAL management of the company “with the tacit approval of the government.”
Over the years, Lewis said, dating back to the creation of the BCGI there had been a slew of incidents involving the Russian management of the company and the workers, many of whose tenures in the bauxite industry had predated the arrival of RUSAL in Guyana. Lewis said the expatriate giant had more or less “demanded and been handed by government” conditions which favoured a harsh and inhospitable management style. “There is no question then that the complete sidelining of the union was part of a ruse to have RUSAL impose its will and have its own way with the local workers. If it can be argued that the Russians were simply repeating here in Guyana a management style to which they had grown accustomed and had imposed elsewhere. The question that arises is what is the excuse of the Government of Guyana for allowing those practices to prevail?” Lewis asked.
Earlier this year Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Robert Persaud had painted a more pleasing picture of relations between workers and management at BCGI asserting that “according to management, there is no tension within the company.” Persaud had said the management “considers BCGI workers as one of its main assets” and that it was doing its best “to preserve a favourable climate of social partnership… management is responsible for strategic development of business and good governance, and workers are conscious of the fact that today’s stability of the company as well as its future market competitiveness directly depend on good performance, industrial discipline and professionalism of each manager, supervisor or employee.” Additionally, Persaud had told this newspaper that from the government’s standpoint there would be “no compromise” as far as “the rights of workers” were concerned, adding that “the revenues” and “living conditions” of workers were on the list of the company’s priorities.
Asked to comment on what the minister had told Stabroek Business, Lewis said that what appeared to be “the quiet” prevailing at BCGI has everything to do with “the implicit threat of a management that is now completely in control of operations and which had effectively taken away the workers’ rights [and] would not hesitate to use that power should the workers dare to speak up for their rights. It’s not good industrial relations, its tyranny.”
And according to Lewis, while “we have heard from some state officials that it is simply a matter of the Russian management having day-to-day operational responsibility for BCGI, “the government, at the end of the day, has an overarching responsibility for ensuring that the workers of this country enjoy favourable working conditions.”
Asked about the monitoring role which the Ministry of Labour is supposed to play in overseeing labour/management relations Lewis said he did not believe the BCGI management was accountable to the Ministry of Labour for any aspect of its day-to-day operations. “It goes higher than the Ministry of Labour,” Lewis said.
The GTUC General Secretary said the GB&GWU “remains completely in the dark” as to the status of the investigation in last month’s electrical accident at BCGI’s Kurubuku operations during which an electrician was badly burnt. “There are several problems here. First, there is an ongoing departure from proper procedure insofar as the union is completely detached from the investigation. Secondly, we are unsure as to whether the ministry itself has the capacity for a proper investigation. My own feeling is that we will probably not see a conclusive investigation into that accident in a hurry since I suspect that part of the outcome of an objective investigation might well point to on-site safety and health weaknesses that BCGI might be properly required to account for and to remedy.”
Stabroek Business has sought, unsuccessfully, to secure updates on the investigation into the Kurubuku accident. When this newspaper last checked with the Labour Ministry on Wednesday, a staff member conveyed on behalf Chief Labour and Occupational Safety and Health Officer Charles Ogle that he could not speak to the press. Ogle had previously spoken with Stabroek Business on workplace accidents.
When contacted, Labour Minister Dr Nanda Gopaul agreed to speak with this newspaper on the broader issue of workplace accidents and the ministry’s investigatory role, in the new week.
Meanwhile, Lewis said there was effectively “no formal contact between the union and its members at Kwakwani. The workers enjoy no union-related rights as dictated under the law and there is a keen awareness that if you cross the Russian management your job could be threatened. The real disturbing thing is that there is no recourse.”
According to Lewis “old working relationships have meant that the leadership of the union remains in touch with the situation on the ground. We have a fair idea as to what is happening but the conditions that are in place mean that we are not allowed to pursue our constitutional role as the workers’ representatives.”
