Mining Camps workers accuse employers of exploitation

Feb 27, 2010 News

Workers at some mining camps in Region One (Barima/Waini) are being routinely “ripped off” by owners who work them for months and then refuse to pay them using the flimsiest of excuses.
The allegation was made recently by several residents who said that the practice is fairly widespread and the culprits include both local and foreign dredge owners.
The victims include labourers and other workers, some of them women who are mainly Bahirs (camp cooks).
“The mine owners who are involved make an arrangement with workers; the workers go to work and then when it is time to pay them, these people find excuses for not paying for the workers.
Their main way of getting out of their obligations is to accuse the workers of stealing the gold produced, in many cases a baseless and convenient allegation to suit their purpose,” one angry victim said.
The exploiters are getting away with it, he added, because from the point of view of the victims, there is no one to complain to; nowhere in the Region to get some form of redress.
Two of the victims spoke to this newspaper of the very provoking circumstances under which they were “ripped off.”
Ms. Natasha George said that she worked as a Bahir at a Camp where a man offered her the sum of $80,000 a month for her services.
After working for six weeks she observed that the man who is from Georgetown was not visiting the Camp.
She and other workers subsequently learnt that the man had transferred management of the dredge to another person.
She is yet to receive her pay of $120,000 for the six weeks of work.
She added that six other persons who worked on the site as labourers were similarly “ripped off”.
Demetrius Antonio, also of Port Kaituma, worked on a mine site and was also robbed of his agreed wages.
The man should have paid him $68,000 but was only paid $27,000 after an accusation that he had joined with others to steal gold from the dredge, a charge which Antonio vehemently denied.
“People complain to the Police but don’t get much action because the police many times say they cannot intervene; that we got to go to the Ministry of Labour; that we gotta travel from Port Kaituma to Georgetown.
There are not many mine workers who can afford that,” Antonio said.
Other anomalies in the gold and diamond mining industry in Region One include the failure of the mine owners to pay National Insurance for their workers and the absence of any form of termination benefits for their employees at the end of an operation.
The affected workers are calling for the urgent intervention of the Ministry of Labour to ensure that the Labour Regulations and the rights of workers are respected and adhered to.

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Mining Camps workers accuse employers of exploitation

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