Dear Editor,
The National Association of Agricultural, Commercial & Industrial Employees (NAACIE), is alarmed at the fact that local bauxite workers’ interests and welfare are now increasingly dependent on the priorities of expatriate ownership and management.
NAACIE also notes with trepidation, the sidelining of the legal representation of one union in the bauxite sector, the Guyana Bauxite & General Workers Union (GB&GWU), seemingly in preference to the relationship of a company, (RUSAL) with government. This is wholly reprehensible as it undermines trade union democracy, whereby bauxite workers are now shrewdly being denied representation by the union of their choice.
Trade union representation is guaranteed in the Guyana Constitution for citizens and workers (Article 147). This article expresses a legitimate right which must be embraced by employers, employees and the entire labour movement.
For while a Ministry or Department of Labour is there to conciliate on technical matters relevant to non-agreement or statements between employers and unions, never should any government seek to usurp the status and role of a union elected by workers. As one of the unions in the bauxite industry, a representative of workers employed by BOSAI Guyana, NAACIE views the infringements by the RUSAL employers with great concern.
What is to happen in Guyana’s new oil and gas sector, which will obviously be managed by other expatriates?
NAACIE views the ongoing saga, whereby RUSAL is refusing to recognize GB&GWU in keeping with the laws of Guyana, with disquiet. It seems to suggest that trade union representation in the burgeoning oil and gas sector will be a non-starter.
This is not what the coalition government promised. NAACIE supports union recognition for RUSAL workers in keeping with the laws and offers our unstinted solidarity to the GB&GWU.
All the workers of Guyana respect the right to be unionized.
Yours faithfully,
Kenneth Joseph
General Secretary
NAACIE
