The Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU) yesterday maintained its call for compulsory arbitration to resolve its ongoing dispute with the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. (BCGI), while saying it would not clear the Berbice River of encumbrances that have prevented access by the company’s vessels in exchange for the reinstatement of sacked workers under the current conditions.
The union’s position comes in wake of an apparent offer by the company to reinstate workers who were sacked after engaging in strike action in exchange for river access.
Following over two weeks of industrial action, both sides were expected to meet with the Labour Department in Georgetown yesterday but separate meetings were held instead as BCGI, a subsidiary of RUSAL, continued to refuse to meet with the union, which it does not recognise as the bargaining agent for the workers.
Chief Labour Officer (CLO) Charles Ogle and other officers facilitated a meeting with the company’s management, while the head of the GB&GWU Lincoln Lewis and other union representatives as well as the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) President Coretta McDonald and Federation of Independent Trade Unions Guyana (FITUG) Vice-President Seepaul Narine were facilitated in another meeting.
The unions later called the arrangement disrespectful.
Lewis noted that another request was made by the management of the company for him to recuse himself from the meeting.
Asked whether he would give in to the request, Lewis questioned why he should. “The next thing the Russians will do is tell us who should be president of this country. I am not prepared to do that. Recuse? For what? Anybody can tell them to recuse themselves?” he said.
Lewis also noted that the Department also informed the union that a technical committee would be appointed to consider reinstating the workers on the condition that the Berbice River is cleared.
“The river doesn’t belong to them. This is Guyana… We have heard too many things about technical committees. What we are asking for, basically, is arbitration,” he said, while stating that the Minister of Social Protection Amna Ally can use the current situation and the laws to order arbitration.
“Let the Minister and the Labour Department call them in and say the union is requesting under the Collective Labour Agreement [for] arbitration and let us have it. We are prepared now. They do not want to have us deal with arbitration… Don’t bring no nonsense to us and tell us about reinstatement because we are not sending people back under those conditions,” he added.
McDonald also said that the unions found it disrespectful that the ministry accommodated the company separately despite an invitation to meet with both parties.
“As a matter of fact, we find it very disrespectful that the Department of Labour would accommodate them. We were summoned to a 10 am meeting. When we turned up here, the Russians were accommodated in the CLO’s office because [Lewis] was present here and the CLO and the other officers continued to accommodate them there and asking him to recuse himself from the meeting. I am saying that is total eye pass,” she said.
McDonald said that the situation has been allowed to continue without action for too long and the company must respect the laws of the country and if the ministry nor the “higher authorities” can do it, then the workers and their representatives will.
Not prepared
While the company has offered to reinstate the workers once the river is cleared, McDonald said that they are not prepared to do so unless they sit at the table and iron out the issues with the recognised union and only then a move to the next step will be considered.
“The unions are clear. We will continue to block the river until the Russians decide they are going to recognise the union and they are going to sit and talk with the representatives of the union… The river will be blocked until the company recognises the union,” she emphasised.
With the dispute entering its 18th day today, more than 150 workers, in addition to the 90 that were dismissed, are unsure of their fate. However, McDonald said that they are prepared for the company to “pack up and leave… if they can’t sit at the table with the unit that is bargaining for them then let them go. That’s the decision of the workers.”
Narine added that one of the concerns of the unions is that a foreign company is being allowed to blatantly violate the laws of Guyana and the issue is seemingly not being addressed by the government, which he said is a total “eye pass.”
After the meeting was concluded with the union, Junior Social Protection Minister Keith Scott, who has responsibility for labour, was also questioned and he said the company will be putting forward some proposals which should be received by the end of the day. He said those proposals will be given to the union for a collective decision.
“There must be concern at some point. The parties have to meet at the table… it will happen,” he said, while noting that the prospects of BCGI leaving the country did not come up in any of the meetings.
Ogle, who kept refusing to comment after being pressed by the media, said the company is going to submit its proposals in “black and white.”
Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman had explained that a request was made to the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) to conduct a technical and legal assessment of all the local operations of the RUSAL and the legal and other consequences of closure.
A report is expected to be presented today to President David Granger and ministers for a discussion on the way forward.
The impasse between the company and the workers began on February 15th after the unilateral imposition of a 1% wages increase became the final straw for workers, who decided to strike.
On February 18th, 61 workers were fired. One subsequently was allowed to return to work.
On February 19th, BCGI Personnel Officer Mikhail Krupenin and RUSAL representative Vladimir Permyakov met with the Department of Labour and confirmed to the media that they sacked the workers due to their decision to protest. Permyakov had explained that certain clauses in the workers’ contracts prevents them from taking industrial action, which the ministry and the union both say is illegal.
Despite meeting with government ministers, who have urged the reinstatement of the sacked workers, Permyakov has said the company would not be reinstating them. The company subsequently fired 30 more workers.
