An admission to violations of the labour laws

Mar 28, 2010 Letters

---

Dear Editor,
Minister Manzoor Nadir’s admittance in Kaieteur News, March 25, 2010, (US labour union under fire from government) that, “The LOSH department does recognise the GB&GWU as the recognised union for the bargaining unit” is his confirmation that he, the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc, Yoganand Persaud and Mohamed Akeel are in flagrant violations of the laws.
This has been the position of law-abiding persons and the Bauxite Union from day one which these law-breakers do not want to accept.
The fact that the Minister admits this yet fails to bring an end to the Bauxite impasse is clear that his actions and all those involved are driven by considerations out of the ordinary for laws, labour negotiations and dispute, and driven instead by a racial and partial political agenda, which involves breaking the law geared to crush the Bauxite workers, their families and communities who are perceived to be supportive of opposition parties.
The Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) must also be aware of this but serves as suspected to window dress and defend the government’s racist transgressions.
The fact that Nadir has not intervened to bring the five-month old Bauxite dispute to conciliation is an abrogation of his duty and a violation of the responsibility of his office. Even the blind can see that we live in dangerous times with a metastatic cancerous culture of lawlessness, lies and deception being embraced as mainstream norms and values, eroding the moral fibre of our society. Minister Nadir is just another one of the many engineers and architects of this degeneracy.
The Minister’s representation of the strike in May 2009 and relating same to the strike in November is either due to poor recall, or a deliberate act of dishonesty, as they are totally unrelated.
The strike in May 2009 was the result of occupational safety and health issues where workers protested having to work with faulty machinery endangering their health and life. One employee fell gravely ill working under these conditions and is now disabled.
The May 2009 matter is before the ministry who is refusing to address it, thereby giving tactic support to the company who sued union leaders for standing in defence of the workers and upholding the Occupational Safety and Health Law.
This nation must take note of the Minister’s pattern of failing to act quickly, decisively and fairly on matters pertaining to a certain category of workers and certain industries. Justice delayed is justice denied.
The Minister seeks to hold Bauxite workers hostage to an unsigned draft agreement which he admits was unsigned and disputed by the union. This is confirmed, as he states “a request by management to have this agreement signed on November 24, last year by the Union” remains unsigned “as the union proceeded on strike action on the 22nd.” Further the “Union claimed to agree to only one part of the proposed draft agreement.”
This is clear admittance by the Minister that the matter is unresolved which under the labour laws he should be addressing forthwith.
In the continued attacks on a section of workers the Minister is hoping he can feigned ignorance of the labour laws, procedures and practices of his ministry when he says that, “On the 2nd December, 2009 [BCGI] management indicated by letter that they are of the opinion that the Union had breached the Collective Labour Agreement.”
It is clear that the Minister instead of advising BCGI and holding them accountable to the laws of Guyana has instead placed the laws subordinate to the misguided will of BCGI and those who influence their action.
Nadir is hoping he can hide/divert his illegal acts by personal attacks against Lincoln Lewis.
He should be advised that I, Lincoln Lewis, have made a decision that I will not live on my knees, I shall stand and continuously fight for what is legal, just and fair in society. The public is informed that I have had no warrant issued for my arrest in this lifetime.
Feigning to care for the well being of some workers behind claims of non-payment of salaries to employees of Critchlow Labour College does not ignore the fact that it is Nadir and his government who are engaged in destructive economic policies and acts to starve the College of funds.
If as he claims workers were not paid then this is the effect of his government’s hostility and discriminatory practices. It is also pretensions his ‘representation’ of my cousin, the late Col. Godwyn McPherson, when this government took him to court and whereas the court ruled in his favour the government ignored the ruling and grounded his outstanding military career to a halt in a manner similar to the wicked agenda meted out to Clarence Chue.
The attacks on a section of the Guyanese workforce have been constant and discriminatory. People are not fooled.
Finally, if Nadir believes the response of the powerful U.S. America Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organisations (AFL-CIO) is simply misguided then he is worse off than we think in his knowledge of the operations of international labour.
Lincoln Lewis

---

---