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Out-of- work Barama workers get stipend
Revealing the good news to former employees of Barama who were in computer classes is Head of Corporate Affairs & Forest Planning Barama Company Limited, Mohindra Chand and Minister of Labour Human and Social Services, Manzoor Nadir.
Barama Company Limited (BCL) and Government gave to former employees who were affected by the company’s plywood mill closure, their respective stipends yesterday. The donation was made at the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG) where computers classes are also held.
Each participant who had signed up for the computer training programme was paid $30,000 while BCL also gave the participants an early Christmas by way of a one-off payout equivalent to two weeks of the employees’ last drawn basic salary with the company.
This was in addition to the severance package the workers received when the Barama plywood mill issued the notice of closure.
According to Head of Corporate Affairs and Forest Planning, Barama Company Limited, Mohindra Chand, the computer training programme aims to equip workers with skills that would enable them to move into other areas of work.
Chand said that Barama has intended the gesture to complement the government’s effort and to show its appreciation to its former employees.
Barama is making every effort to have the factory up and running as soon as possible, Chand said. He added that the company decided to show its goodwill towards the former employees by finding $8M to give them the two-week salary as an early Christmas gesture.
“In view of the circumstances, and with Christmas around the corner, we have decided that the cash token would be a fitting gift of appreciation to our former employees and their families during this time of giving,” said Clement Ooi, Barama’s CEO.
“The company applauds individuals who have decided to take up the govemment’s offer, because they are determined not to be affected by their circumstances. We trust that they will take full advantage of the training programme.”
Chief Executive Officer of CIOG, Sheikh Moen, thanked the government for accepting the COIG offer to use the Information Technology (IT) laboratory, which was built by ZARA, an overseas-based Guyanese team.
According to Minister of Labour Human and Social Services, Manzoor Nadir, the Government payout on stipends is approximately $8.5M per month since 281 persons are being catered for in the computer training package.
However, he said, the total Government package is estimated at $30.8M inclusive of the training personnel and other services that have to be paid for.
Under the programme, the workers will have to attend computer classes once a week for the next three months.
Early October, the company’s boiler, a component that is integral to the production of plywood, was damaged. Four workers were blamed for being negligent.
With repairs or replacement likely to take an estimated 18 months, BCL said that it had no choice than to lay off the 281 workers who were directly employed in the operations.
The fallout was immediate with suppliers of peeler logs, used to make veneer sheets, immediately seeing their livelihood disappear overnight.
An entire industry that grew around the peeler logs, including transportation and fuel supplies, was also affected with authorities expressing concerns over how the construction industry would be affected.
BCL has since said that it is contemplating importing plywood but the shipping and logistic cost may be prohibitive.
The company is also examining possibilities of installing a smaller boiler to meet demands of the local market but this may take up to five months before realisation.
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