The “red flags” that have been raised in the areas of labour relations and occupational safety and health in the mining sector are concerns that cannot be overlooked. “They have to be examined,” Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman told Stabroek Business.
Responding to a question posed by this newspaper regarding some of the findings of the recently assigned Minister in the Ministry of Natural Resources Simona Broomes arising out of workplace visits made during her tenure as Minister in the Ministry of Social Protection, Trotman said that safety and sound management/worker relations would be part of the focus of his Ministry.
The comment was made against the backdrop of charges in some quarters that what was widely regarded as Broomes’ uncompromising approach to creating a convivial labour relations environment as well as safe practices in the natural resources sector may have led to pressures on government to remove her from her previous portfolio. Asked subsequently whether the private sector approved of what was widely regarded as the probing posture struck by Broomes during her visits to private sector companies across the country, a prominent businessman who told this newspaper that he did not want to be named said that there were instances in which business owners found Broomes’ interventions “awkward.” Stabroek Business has learnt that a body of opinion has held the view that Broomes’ insistence on best practices in the areas of labour relations and safety and health may serve as a disincentive to potential investors.
The bauxite companies Bai Shan Lin and Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. as well as the forest resources company, Demerara Timbers, all majority-owned by expatriate companies, were among those that came in for criticism during visits to those entities last year and it has been suggested in some quarters that Broomes’ reassignment to the Natural Resources Ministry might have been the result of pressures from ‘big business’ arising out of suggestions that her approach to tackling employer delinquency was heavy-handed and might impact negatively on external investment.
Since her assignment to the Natural Resources Ministry, however, Trotman has said that he regards Broomes as a valuable ally in the fight to rein in rogue employers who embrace unfair labour practices and dangerous working conditions. Broomes, Trotman told Stabroek Business, is likely to be engaged with responding to the challenges that have arisen out of the slew of accidents, many of them fatal ones, that have surfaced in the mining sector in recent times.
Last week both Ministers visited the community of Mahdia, which has been no stranger to mining accidents in recent years and Broomes has told Stabroek Business that she believes that the fact that she has an understanding of the sector will serve her in good stead as efforts are made to reduce mining accidents. Broomes told Stabroek Business that investigations into accidents in the mining sector reveal that errors and judgment and inattention to safety and health rules are usually the principal causes.
