Latest update April 4th, 2025 6:13 AM
Duo vent concerns over bauxite workers’ dismissal with picket exercise
Lincoln Lewis (left) and Norris Witter picket the Labour Ministry.
“There shall be no peace without justice,” chanted Norris Witter of the Guyana Trade Union Congress yesterday as he, along with his trade unionist comrade, Lincoln Lewis, picketed the Cornhill office of the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security yesterday.
The intent of the placard-bearing duo was to vent concerns over the sacking of Bauxite Workers from the RUSAL-owned Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc (BCGI) close to one year ago.
Several unions, including opposition parties, had raised concerns about the state of affairs and had even called for the reinstatement of the workers, who according to reports were dismissed merely because of a call for an improved remuneration package and working conditions. The dismissal was instituted last November.
According to Lewis yesterday, “come November (next month) it will be one year since the Bauxite workers were dismissed from BCGI. It is just about one year now and it was just before Christmas last year that Minister (of Labour) Manzoor Nadir said that he was giving the parties an opportunity to cool off during the Christmas season and if nothing happens then he will address the issue. We are in the tenth month in the New Year and nothing has been done.”
The Minister, according to Lewis, had given commitment even at an international forum in June to address the situation, adding that “to date the parties have not reached.” However, it is Lewis’ conviction that the problem stems from the level of Central Government. According to him “this Government from 1992 started not a violation but a transgression of workers’ rights. Too long we have allowed those transgressions to take hold in society so they have become a norm…”
But according to Lewis yesterday, “this matter will never go away. When it started last year I said to my colleagues give it one year; prepare for one year of struggle.”
And the struggle will be lengthened, said Lewis, who arrived in the country a few days ago to highlight his concerns on the matter. He noted that plans are already apace for the longer struggle, revealing that there are many players “who are a part of the scheming game of oppressing the workers.”
And picket action, he said, will reach to all of the relevant offices if no urgent action is taken. “I am back here and I will be picketing all of them and they will be seeing my face every day of every week until such time that justice is served.”
The Guyana Postal and Telecommunication Workers Union (GPTWU) in a statement issued last December had signaled its disapproval over the dismissal of the workers, even calling the Labour Ministry to intervene to protect the rights of workers.
According to the GPTWU the existing impasse between the BCGI and the Guyana Bauxite & General Workers Union (GB&GWU) started as a struggle for improved wages and working conditions but spiraled into a clear struggle for universal rights and respect for the laws of Guyana. It was further amplified that the management of the company has acted illegally by dismissing and suspending workers, including the elected leaders of the union, during strike action by the workers.
In addition, the union sought to highlight the act was a violation of the Trade Union Recognition Act which states in section 26 (1) that: “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.”
The union had also lashed out at the move by the company to terminate the collective labour agreement, regarding it as “illegal.” It was also noted that the engagement between the BCGI and the GB&GWU is a legal agreement and could only be nullified by the courts.
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