Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) General Secretary Lincoln Lewis has accused the government of showing that it cares more for its bilateral relations with Russia than it does for its own citizens, after the Social Protection Ministers recently met with the management of the Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated (BCGI) in the absence of the workers’ union.
Ministers of Social Protection Volda Lawrence and Keith Scott recently held engagements with the management of the BCGI on workers’ welfare issues, in the absence of the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU), which is the union legally recognised to represent their interests.
“Engaging the company in the absence of the union is a breach of the law. The collective agreement between BCGI and GB&GWU is legal and binding and it says what must happen when workers have a grievance,” Lewis told Stabroek News yesterday.
He further said that this breach was a “deliberate act on the part of the ministers who have no intention of handling the issue.”
“What they are saying behind the scenes is that the dismissal of 60-odd workers is not more important than the relationship between Guyana and Russia. If they do anything, then BCGI, which is managed by Rusal, will leave. So what they are saying is that the rights of workers is not more important than Guyana’s relationship with Russia,” Lewis said.
Attempts by Stabroek News to contact the ministers for comment proved futile. Calls to their offices saw this newspaper redirected to the Ministry’s Public Relations (PR) Department and after several hours PR officer Terrence Esseboom related that he was unable to secure a comment on the matter from the ministers.
In 2009, 57 bauxite workers were dismissed by BCGI after engaging in industrial action for increased wages and improved working conditions. Their dismissal followed the suspension in May, 2009, of workers who protested against unsafe working conditions and it was followed in November, 2010 by the dismissal of several workers who claimed that RUSAL was preparing meals for workers using expired and rat-infested stocks.
Most recently, on January 27, this year, three workers who refused to operate a “defective excavator” were sent home without pay until further notice.
The labour ministers under the former PPP/C-led government had been criticised by Lewis and the union for failing to ensure that the rights of the workers were respected.
Lewis also criticised the Social Protection ministers in a letter published in yesterday’s edition of the Stabroek News, where he said their action “constitutes clear contempt for the law, the workers, and their trade union.”
He stressed that “it is not the role of the ministers to be negotiating with employers on behalf of workers, something which Scott and Lawrence are guilty of.” Rather, he said, “the role of the ministry is wherever their exist workers, be they unionised or non-unionised, they must ensure the laws are being respected, enforced, and where necessary they should conciliate in disputes.”
According to Lewis, he is particularly disappointed with the ministers since, while in opposition, they both voted in favour of a no-confidence motion brought against then Minister of Labour Manzoor Nadir over the dispute between the workers and the company.
This motion, brought in 2010 by then Leader of the Opposition Robert Corbin, addressed “Nadir’s dereliction of duty in upholding the labour laws and ensuring the rights of BCGI workers consistent with Section 23 (1) of the Trade Union Recognition Act.”
Lewis noted that the current struggles of workers employed by the BCGI to have representation by their union of choice, the GB&GWU, are not new to these ministers as they started in 2009.
Lewis, in his letter, called for the society to be made aware “that the BCGI workers’ continued struggles to have their rights upheld under laws have taken another twist, though not new. It is no longer a matter of respecting the High Court’s ruling to re-issue letters to commence arbitration, ignorance of industrial relations practices, or respect for the law. This matter has now moved to another level.”
