The reporting of this dispute has not been of the best

Dec 05, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

I confess. I need help. I am still to figure out from all the newspaper reports on the Internet just what are the reasons behind the strike in the Berbice bauxite operations.
I still cannot make sense out of the reports and I am sad to state that our editors are not helping out the situation very much by the manner in which they are reporting this dispute.
What I have gathered so far is that the workers are on strike because they want increases emoluments. The union, we are told, had agreed to an option whereby the company would pay a 10 per cent increase and a certain level of retrenchment. We are further told that the union had written to the company indicating that it was in agreement with the said option. The union said that along with the workers it agreed on the option of the increase plus the specified retrenchment.
So why then was a strike called? If the union agreed to the option and if it wrote to the company signaling its agreement, why then was there is strike? What is the problem? Is it that the company is not willing to pay the agreed option? Is it that the union wants to renegotiate what it had agreed to?
Surely it cannot be either because the employer cannot make an offer and when this offer is accepted then refuse to honour that offer; nor can the union accept an option but only want one aspect to be complied with.
According to one report in the media, the workers are saying that they have problems with retrenchment but they wish the issue of the increase in pay and the retrenchment to be treated separately. It cannot be treated separately because it is part of one option which was accepted by the union which said it did so in consultations with the workers.
The above is to show the sort of difficulties that the average reader will face in understanding the issues which are the center of the controversy in the present industrial impasse in the bauxite operations.
The media reports have been disappointing and have not provided sufficient background nor have they answered the questions that would allow for those uninitiated in this dispute to have an informed basis upon which to judge which party or parties are at fault.
As if to compound the problem, a media report quoted the main opposition, the People’s National Congress Reform, as saying that the provision under which the company has reportedly abrogated the Collective Bargaining Agreement is ambiguous and lends itself to different interpretations.
Yet the wording of that agreement has not been provided so that again the uninitiated can make an assessment as to whether the agreement provides for its own abridgement by either party.
What is clearer is that the company cannot derecognise the union simply by abrogating a collective bargaining agreement. Opinions on this score have been provided within the news reports.
It is hoped that in the days ahead that not only will the issues at contention become much clearer but that a concerted effort will be made to reduce whatever differences are there between the two sides, differences which experience teaches is often a result of poor communication and or an unwillingness to compromise.
The union should not be bothered by the threat about the company walking out of Guyana. That is not going to happen. Too great an investment has been sunk into Guyana for the company to walk away. However, the union should know that in the past the company had laid off workers depending on the global demands for alumina.
So while the company is not going to close down totally its operations in Guyana, this does not mean that it will operate in an environment where it cannot meet its own expectations. So while the company is not likely to walk away from Guyana, it may very well close shop until the markets for its products improve.
This is all the more reason why this dispute needs to be settled and settled quickly. This process can be facilitated by a less confrontational approach from all, including from those who are not directly party to the dispute, inclusive of the opposition political parties.
Information is the key to adopting a non-confrontational approach and the Kaieteur News, in particular is urged to help provide that information to its readers.

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