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GPTWU will not sit on the sideline and allow BCGI to violate the laws of industrial relations in Guyana

Dec 23, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor,
The impasse between the Bauxite Company Guyana Inc. (BCGI), owned by RUSAL and the Government of Guyana, and the Guyana Bauxite & General Workers Union (GB&GWU) which started as a struggle for improve wages and working conditions has today become a clear struggle for universal rights and respect for the laws of Guyana.
The act by BCGI to dismiss and suspend workers during a strike, including the elected leaders of the union who are employees of the company sends a clear message that some employers will break the law and deny workers the right to elect or select their leaders.
According to the Trade Union Recognition Act, Chapter 98:07, Offences by employers, Section 26:
(1) No employee shall be dismissed, or have his employment adversely affected, or his position altered by his employer, by reason of the circumstances that the worker –
(a) Is an officer, delegate or member of a trade union
(2) An employer shall not
(a) Make the employment of a worker subject to the condition that he shall or shall not become a member.
Further, the position taken by BCGI to inform the union that it has terminated the Collective Labour Agreement (CLA) is illegal. Section 23 (1) of the Recognition Act outlining Compulsory recognition and duty to treat clearly states “When a trade union obtains a certificate of recognition for workers comprised in a bargaining unit in accordance with this Part, the employer shall recognise the union, and the union and the employer shall bargain in good faith and enter into negotiations with each other for the purpose of collective bargaining.”
The issue of recognition is a responsibility of the Trade Union Recognition and Certification Board, acting consistent with the Trade Union Recognition Act, Chapter 98:07 as such any de-recognition cannot be at the dictate of BCGI.
The CLA is the result of a legal engagement between the BCGI and the GB&GWU. It so follows that any nullification of the CLA is a matter for the Courts of the land to decide. The company’s failure to respect the law of the land and its violations of workers’ rights must be addressed and corrected immediately.
The Guliana Postal and Telecommunications Workers’ Union (GPTWU), the union of Andrew Stonewall Jackson, will not sit on the sideline and allow BCGI to violate the laws and tenants of industrial relations in Guyana.
The GPTWU calls on the Ministry of Labour, every trade union, every trade unionist and every law-abiding citizen to come out against this new transgression of workers’ rights and the violation of the laws of Guyana.
Eslyn Harris
General Secretary

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