Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton has said it must first be established that RUSAL will continue its operations here before any attempt is made address labour issues between its subsidiary, Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc (BCGI) and workers
Speaking with Stabroek News on Friday, the Labour Minister said “from the way I see it we must have a company operating here before we can move ahead with other issues. We have not forgotten about these labour issues but we need to ensure we have a company.”
Hamilton told Stabroek News that following a meeting in August that the company had with his ministry and the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Russian bauxite company presented a report and the Natural Resources Ministry is currently reviewing it.
Additionally, he said that with RUSAL indicating its willingness to remain in operations the government has reached out to Oldendorff, a contracted shipping company for RUSAL and requested that they cease plans to vacate Guyana. Hamilton, noted that the company has agreed to remain in Guyana until talks are completed.
Around three months after RUSAL announced that they were suspending their operations, Oldendorff Carriers Guyana Inc (OCGI), announced that it was forced to shut operations here. As a result of the closure, 132 employees were laid off.
OCGI is the company contracted to ship and transport bauxite from BCGI’s mines at Kurubuka in Region 10.
BCGI terminated over 300 workers at the end of January this year and announc-ed the suspension of its operations.
Workers and the company have been in a decade-long dispute over wages and working conditions.
“From the meeting I have had with the employees, issues of occupational health and safety, working conditions and wages and salaries negotiations have been raised. We will address these concerns but first we have to get a recommitment by the company and then we will address these labour concerns,” Hamilton said.
During his first engagement with the press, Hamilton had warned that workers’ rights will not be trampled upon by international companies operating here.
“We will not allow expatriate or even local companies, we will not allow them to take advantage of the people and that is a fundamental issue. We will utilize the law to ensure that all of these companies respect the law, the constitution and the people,” Hamilton had said.
Back in August during the meeting with the ministries and the GGMC, the company’s Country Representative, Vladimir Permakov, related that the blocking of the Berbice River by sacked workers to prevent barges from passing hindered critical work in the mines.
The company also said there are several technical matters which have to be addressed such as the restoration of the mine for safe mining after it became flooded, a statement from Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat had explained after the meeting.
The company’s representative had further disclosed that the operating cost for extracting Guyana’s bauxite was not competitive on the world market as from other sources and there was now the potential added costs of remedial work in the mine.
After months of protest, former workers who had maintained the blockade across the Berbice River following their dismissal in January, removed the barrier after the new PPP/C government came into office in August.
General Secretary of the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union, Lincoln Lewis had told this newspaper that workers believed the new PPP/C-led government would not fully represent their interests over wages and salaries and working conditions. Given the experience with past PPP/C-led administrations, the sacked workers felt they should bring their industrial action to an end, he said.
