Workers shouldn’t be used to settle personal score

Jan 03, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
It was good to read former Chief Labour Officer (CLO), Mohamed Akeel’s letter “A recommendation is not binding” (Kaieteur News 31/12/2009).
The former CLO made a case for GAWU and showed where the Minister of Labour, Minister of Agriculture and CLO went wrong. It is correct a “recommendation” is more an advisory than a compulsory.
Mr. Akeel is the Labour Consultant to the RUSAL bauxite company, BCGI. There is an industrial problem with this company and the bauxite union since November.
Mr. Akeel is so knowledgeable on GAWU/GuySuCo problem and the company he represents continues to break the laws and the Collective Labour (CLA) and not a word from him.
a) Why is BCGI refusing to negotiate with the union and the Ministry of Labour?
b) The company said it will seek de-recognition of the union but in the meanwhile the recognition is still legal so why isn’t Mr. Akeel advising BCGI to respect the law?
Man in the street knows about the bad blood between the Minister of Labour, the Chief Labour Officer and Mr. Akeel. Even so workers shouldn’t be used to settle personal score as in the case where BCGI is seemingly advised not to make themselves available to the Ministry of Labour.
The longer BCGI and the union take to resolve their problem the worse it makes the Minister and the CLO look. So far they are looking very incompetent and Mr. Akeel’s letter made it worse.
Mr. Akeel is also looking petty and vindictive. He should try to salvage his image and let people know what he has done to get BCGI to respond to the Labour Ministry request for a meeting.
Dindial Naipaul

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News