The union representing workers of the RUSAL-owned Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc (BCGI) says that it will not accept less than what its current agreement with the company states and if the company feels that working in Guyana is not profitable and it cannot pay workers their due, then it should pack up and leave this country.
“The union is not prepared to breach the agreement we signed with BCGI and we are prepared to honour it to the letter; we will not relent,” General Secretary of the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU) Lincoln Lewis told Stabroek News in an interview.
“Industrial relations has nothing to do with RUSAL’s attitude, nothing. The question of the industrial relations issue is a red herring by the company. Nobody called for labour stoppage. All we are saying is honour the contract. You can’t come to an agreement then don’t want to go to arbitration. If you are confident you are doing so bad, go to the arbitration panel and convince them that you can’t pay,” he added.
RUSAL owns 90 per cent of the Aroaima, Berbice-based BCGI. The company’s operations are located on the Berbice River between Kwakwani and Linden, with persons from those areas making up the majority of its workforce.
Since February this year, following a decade of being “outlawed” by RUSAL as the workers’ representative, the GB&GWU has been meeting with the company on a range of issues. These include the termination of the services of some workers and wages and salaries negotiations. The meetings followed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two, following the intervention of the Department of Labour.
There has, however, been little if any progress on the wages question and Lewis said that the union will hold firm that as it has honoured its aspect of the agreement with the company, then RUSAL should do the same.
‘Scaled down’
The union’s position comes even as the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) has said that while it has noticed a scaling down of operations by BCGI, it, and by extension government, has received no formal word on if the company plans to leave here.
GGMC Commissioner Newell Dennison told Stabroek News that he believes that the current stalemate between the union and the company is the cause and expressed the belief that if the issue is resolved, normal works could resume.
“There is nothing that the company has said to GGMC that indicates that they have any plans to depart from Guyana. They continue to operate. The reports I am receiving is that it appears as if certain aspects of their operation may have been scaled down,” Dennison said.
“There continues to be a certain industrial climate that has to be resolved… but there is some optimism that operations at RUSAL will get back to normal. However, the prevailing circumstances still require give and take on all sides for a favourable outcome,” he added.
Dennison said that a GGMC officer on Tuesday left for the site and will provide further details when he returns over the weekend. The GGMC head said that he is optimistic that both sides could come to a consensus and that operations could continue.
But for the union, given RUSAL’s actions not only here but in other developing countries, if the company remains headstrong on using the ‘we are not making a profit excuse’ to not pay the wages and salaries, then it should be called on to pack up and leave. “If a man says over a successive 10 or 12 years period that his business makes no profit, what sense it makes to continue,” Lewis opined.
Lewis said that he is disappointed that this country’s officials have accepted RUSAL’s mere words and have not taken a frontal approach to ensure that workers are treated better and that the company is held to the agreements signed to operate here.
“The Guyanese operatives, from GGMC and other agencies, who buy into RUSAL saying that [it is] industrial relations that has caused it to remove equipment for operations and scaled down operations, show a real lack of understanding of the company they are dealing with,” Lewis said.
“This government should and must, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, write Moscow. It must be in the record because this is infringing on fundamental rights and freedoms and not respecting the laws of this country. We have to tell them. I have said before and will again that a government owes at least that to its people. The BCGI shows blatant disregard for us and has sought to trample on our sovereignty and on the dignity of the people of this country,” he added.
On Tuesday, the APNU+AFC Cabinet subcommittee on Natural Resources met. Following that meeting, the Ministry of Natural Resources said that it was “to discuss and strategise about ongoing matters and future developments within the gold, bauxite and manganese industries. Specific focus was placed on the welfare of workers, the operations of foreign companies and the overall sustainability of the sector.
The meeting was hosted by Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman, and was attended by Minister of Finance Winston Jordan, Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson, Minister of Citizenship Winston Felix, and Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection Keith Scott. Present too were Dennison and technical officers from the respective ministries.
Trotman, when contacted, told Stabroek News that the committee discussed the situation at RUSAL.
“RUSAL was one of the companies discussed. At a preliminary stage, the committee is not contemplating RUSAL departing. Instead, we wish to ensure better labour relations,” he said. “The prospect of 500 plus workers being without work, even temporarily, is not to be contemplated,” he added.
Trotman said that technocrats will compile and update existing reports on all aspects of the operations of the five foreign companies operating in the natural resources sector and Cabinet will continue to receive updates.
Less
Meantime, citing examples from research compiled on the operations of RUSAL in developing countries, Lewis said that the company should be held accountable in Guyana. “In every developing country, even Jamaica …they came with the attitude of ‘take what we give to you, shut up or we will take action against you’. They came here and although we have an agreement, it is the same thing,” he observed.
Further, he added, “The grievance procedure between BCGI and the union states very clearly, and when applied, is of a nature where it makes provision for issues to be addressed without strike action being taken. It says, as it relates to renegotiations, salary and increases and those things, that it is a bilateral between the company and the union. If the parties don’t or cannot have agreement, the next strategy is conciliation. If a resolution is not found at conciliation, either party can request arbitration and the decision of the arbitrator is final and binding on both parties. The union and the company signed to that. Bilaterally, an agreement was not found. We requested conciliation. Inasmuch as we meet under the chairmanship of the Chief Labour Officer, the company takes the position that isn’t conciliation. They continue to say to us that they do not want a third party involved in these discussions yet at the same time, wants to maintain wages levels at 48 per cent less than what BOSAI pays. No way.”
Comparing the Russian company’s operations in the Berbice River to that of the Chinese-owned and operated Bosai in Linden, Lewis said that the evidence would show that BCGI pays some 48 per cent less.
“Where BOSAI, for example, is paying $100 per hour, they want to pay $52 per hour and expect the union leadership to sit down and accept what they are putting to us. We have insisted and will continue to insist that if an agreement cannot be found at conciliation, the Labour Department must take the decision to declare a deadlock, after which we shall request that arbitration proceedings be put in place. That is all the union wants,” he maintained.
“The company’s officials here report to their principals in Russia and they carry out their bidding here. So when it comes to the wages and issues of bringing home the bacon for our workers, my principle is to the workers. Don’t tell us what we must accept because we can’t tell you what to tell your people,” he added.
And with the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) investigating the company to ascertain if its operations are in keeping with the agreements for the granting of waivers and tax exemptions, the GGMC says that it stands ready to assist while the union is calling on GRA to probe thoroughly.
“There have been reports about the company’s duty free arrangements but I am not in a position to comment on that. It is with the GRA. I haven’t received any word from the GRA, but as you know, we are all agencies of government and we stand ready to cooperate whenever necessary,” Dennison said.
For Lewis, he advised the GRA, “The equipment they are shipping or selling out cannot be leased. Look at everything…if you go to their balance sheet, all the monies that they earn from sales is the equivalent to the money they account for in the balance sheet. They have stated in their books that their equipment are their own, not leased but owned.”
