Four months after workers of the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc (BCGI) ended their industrial action, the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU) is still continuing negotiations for a new Collective Labour Agreement.
This was disclosed in a press statement from the union yesterday, which stated that following the settlement of the industrial action by the workers on March 20, between the company and the workers of the Aroaima and Kwakwani plants, the union has been engaging the management of BCGI on a day-to-day basis.
The parties had held their first talks in preparation for the new labour agreement on April 3.
The statement said that they have been able to conduct their activities in an “uninhibited atmosphere”, but the workers are still mobilised and are anxiously awaiting the outcome of a new Collective Labour Agreement (CLA), which is to be realised from the on-going negotiations.
The discussion is set to continue tomorrow.
The union’s negotiation team comprised President, Leslie Gonsalves; General Secretary, Lincoln Lewis; Assistant Secretary, Wayne Coppin; Branch President, Ephraim Velloza and Branch Secretary, Leslie Junor. BCGI/RUSAL’s four-man team has two resident managers and two who came from Moscow specifically for the meeting. Absent from the Company’s delegation was its Labour Consultant/ Advisor, Guyanese and former Chief Labour Officer, Mohamed Akeel, who the union had previously expressed no confidence in.
Workers are requesting improvements in vacation benefits, increases in wages and salary and education allowances for workers and family, among other things.
“The negotiation was preceded by a gruelling struggle for respect for recognition by the employer of the Union [members], even though the Union was recognised by the Trade Union Recognition and Certification Board since May 2007. The struggle to bring the Union and the BCGI management together was the longest struggle of such nature in the history of independent Guyana, lasting for nine plus years, and spanning three political regimes,” the statement said.
It added that the union is committed to upholding its end of the agreement and will not shy away from holding the company accountable for their end of the agreement. The union is also committed to ensuring a new CLA is realised within the shortest possible time.
The industrial action by BCGI workers started on February 15 after the company unilaterally imposed a one per cent increase in wages. Workers also cited other unaddressed issues, including BCGI’s unwillingness to recognise the union as the workers’ bargaining agent.
Following the firing of scores of striking colleagues, workers strung oil barrels and jars on wires across the Berbice River, blocking the passage of barges leaving and entering the mining site at Aroaima. Facing pressure, the government intervened and subsequently the union and the company began a bilateral engagement which led to the signing of the Terms of Reference (ToR) and the reinstatement of dismissed workers.
