Eight workers from Demerara Timbers Limited (DTL) at Mabura Hills, Region 10 have been dismissed for protesting outside the company’s head office in Georgetown on Monday to press for salary increases.
The workers who were part of an 11-member protest and were joined by representatives of their union, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), had told Stabroek News that they have been expecting the increase since last year.
They continued their normal work on Tuesday and were shocked when another worker served them the dismissal letters later that evening at their homes.
The letter, signed by Ralph Trotman, the administrative manager (ag.) stated that they were “hereby informed …that as a result of the strike action taken by you unlawfully and without print notice to the company on the 3rd of October 2016, the company would no longer require your service.”
They immediately contacted the union which advised them not to show up for work but to have another “one-day protest” yesterday morning at the Mabura Hills location. This was done with the presence of the police, which they required.
The workers, disappointed at the company’s move, which they deemed as “unreasonable,” said that the protest in Georgetown was “only for one day and it was not illegal.” They were now awaiting word from the union on the next move.
They had said that since the new DTL Chief Executive Officer Martin Tim arrived in Guyana, he has never had any dialogue with them. They said he never showed up for any meetings at the Region 10 location.
According to a worker, “If an expatriate comes to Guyana he can afford to buy a house and a car within one year. And we are working here so long and we cannot even afford to buy a bicycle.”
He pointed out too that they have families to maintain and that prices for food items in Mabura “don’t drop; everything keeps going up. One pound of milk is $700… In Linden we can buy a pound of milk for just over $300.”
At Monday’s protest, GAWU Field Secretary Ricky Rambeer told Stabroek News that they had negotiated for an increase in 2015.
Rambeer accused Tim of disrespecting Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection Keith Scott by not attending meetings and by not sending any representatives.
He said the workers left Mabura at 3 am for Georgetown just to have their “concerns heard” and with the hope that some positive changes would be made.
In a release yesterday, GAWU said: “Our union recalls this is the first time in history that an entity, private or public, has taken such a decision of such an incredulous nature.”
It said too that: “The company’s decision prompted the majority of the workforce at the DTL Mabura Hill operations to take strike action yesterday as they expressed solidarity with their dismissed compatriots and to express their strong condemnation of the company’s decision.”
According to GAWU, the decision by DTL “must be seen as yet another anti-worker and anti-union act which is occurring rather frequently these days.”
It added: “Moreover, we wish to point out that the actions of DTL is a flagrant violation of Section Eight of the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act which prohibits the dismissal of workers for their participation in industrial action. This right is further reinforced by the Constitution which provides the right for workers to engage in strike and protest action.”
It also said that the company’s “high-handed, illegal and ominous act represents a decision that must be roundly condemned by all right-thinking Guyanese.”
It views the move as a clear attempt to intimidate the workers and use extra-legal measures to deny workers their just claims for pay increase.
The union calls on the government and more so, the Ministry of Social Protection, to ensure that the company observes the laws, conventions and norms of our country and that the dismissed workers are reinstated in their jobs forthwith.
