The Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) yesterday said it is taking immediate steps to address the issue of sexual harassment and assault.
A statement from the board of CJIA came in the wake of allegations by a woman working at the airport that her complaint of sexual harassment and assault by a senior manager was not taken seriously.
The statement said that the Board of the CJIA at its meeting on June 21, 2019 took steps to immediately tackle the issue of sexual harassment and assault in the workplace. The interventions, the statement said, reflected the board’s deep concern about the allegations of sexual misconduct recently published in the media.
“The CJIA board condemns any behaviour which creates an unsafe environment for staff, concessionaires, contractors, suppliers and passengers using CJIA. The board is fully committed to ensuring that the CJIA is a safe workplace for all, especially women and other vulnerable social groups”, the statement said.
It added that the board has called for an immediate review of all policies, protocols, regulations, and practices that govern conduct and engagements in the workplace, and has taken steps to hire external consultants and specialists to conduct the reviews. Furthermore, training will be provided for all persons who work at the airport including staff, at all levels, and persons working at the airport for other agencies, and companies.
“The board wishes to assure the public that all allegations of improper conduct will be taken seriously and there will be prompt investigations. The board will ensure that there is follow through on any investigations that are conducted, and any allegation that is found to be credible will result in the immediate appropriate action”, the statement said.
The CJIA board said it expects to have the external human resource management and gender affairs consultants in place by the end of this month.
The police are presently preparing to send a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions for legal advice on the sexual misconduct complaint against the senior airport manager. Meanwhile, the complainant has said that the airport has tried to victimise and humiliate her.
On June 18th, one day after she made a report to the Guyana Police Force, the woman said she was escorted out of the airport by security officials there.
“Women should not be subjected to victimisation. It’s like you have to go through this twice. You have to go through the emotional and mental battle all over again,” she told yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek in an interview.
Speaking shortly after finalising her statement with the police, the woman said that on June 18th she was escorted from her place of work at the airport by two security officials in full view of airport staff and travelers.
“It was to humiliate me. They could have asked me to come down to the office and deal with it there but they wanted to embarrass me. It was humiliating and shocking,” she said.
The woman recounted to the Sunday Stabroek that the incident occurred on July 30th, 2018, when she visited the manager’s office to sort out a matter for her employer. The following day, she met with the airport CEO Ramesh Ghir and the Human Resources manager and she noted that they both apologised to her. Ghir, she said, told her that under his watch such incidents must not take place and therefore her claims would be investigated.
A statement, which was requested by the officials, was submitted to the HR manager later that day.
Two months later, she said the HR manager indicated that there was no new development in the matter and about a month or two later the airport official sent a message to woman via WhatsApp indicating that she was now back from leave and would let her know if there were any new developments.
According to the woman, she never heard anything until June 7th, 2019, when she received a WhatsApp message from the HR Manager, who stated that the matter had been addressed. She said that given that there was no explanation as to how the matter was addressed and fearing that there was a cover up, she decided to make a report to police and publicise what happened.
