The National Mine Workers’ Union will be aiming to tackle the major issues that are affecting all miners and giving them a voice, while striving for a better working environment, according to union president Sherwyn Downer.
Downer told reporters on Thursday that while the organisation is still young, it will give a voice to all categories of mining workers in the country.
“I was born in mining and I am a mining advocate and the union is part of the solution to the trouble of the industry,” he said, while noting that the mining industry has dominated complaints to the labour department in recent years.
Downer said the union’s objectives include securing social and economic justice for all mining workers; to strive for a just standard of living, social security and fair conditions of work for all mine workers; to advance or oppose any law or action or policy of any authority or body affecting the interest of the members; to understand how the economy and labour laws of the country affect mining workers and to reconstruct the interest of the working class of mine workers; to organise the unorganised workers in the mining industry, including sand and stone workers; and to reinforce and encourage contact and solidarity among the different categories of mine workers.
Referencing recent fatal cave-ins at several mining pits last year, Downer flayed the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and stated that they should provide answers to the public.
Downer also highlighted the issue of gold being smuggled out of the country saying the government should look closely into the situation. “The trafficking in gold has been gaining the attention of the union and we want to know why the facilitators of the trafficking are not facing the court as yet,” he said, while stating that he is urging the government to take the trafficking of the country’s natural resource more seriously.
He reasoned that one of the reasons why persons have been able to traffic gold is because of persons with prospecting licences being able to mine. “With a prospecting licence less attention is paid to those persons than would be to a person with a mining licence,” he charged, while adding that the government should launch an investigation.
Downer also said the union wants the government to invest directly into mining. He said that at present the industry remains private but with government investment there will be a lot of job opportunities.
He suggested too that the government establish an industrial court, where labour issues in all the categories will have a chance of being addressed.
When asked if the union had previously highlighted its major concerns in the mining industry to the respective ministers, Downer said that they have tried to arrange a meeting with the minister but were unsuccessful since last year.
