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“Enough is enough”

Jan 14, 2011 News

– Bauxite union questions minister’s sincerity as impasse drags on

The planned meeting agreed to between the Minister of Labour, Manzoor Nadir, and the Guyana Bauxite & General Workers Union (GB&GWU) as a part of the process to resolve the impasse between the Union and the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc (BCGI), which was scheduled for Wednesday last, did not come off.
This was lamented by GB&GWU which stated that the Union’s delegation turned up for the scheduled meeting and after waiting for more than 45 minutes, was informed that the Minister was engaged in another meeting and therefore unable to honour his commitment.
The meeting was rescheduled for yesterday and that forum also did not bear fruit as the Minister met with the Union and advised that he has been unable to meet with BCGI and as such there wasn’t anything he could say which would move the process forward.
“The Union is yet to be convinced about the sincerity of the minister’s inability to meet on Wednesday, especially given the fact that at the rescheduled Thursday meeting, the Minister advised that he did not meet the company and was unable to determine the next step…Enough is enough.
Each day the evidence bears out that the matter is one of collaboration between the government and the company, the refusal of the minister to enforce the laws, or contempt of the company for the Laws of Guyana and the rights of bauxite workers, none of which puts the Minister in a light of one who has taken his role seriously to uphold the Guyana Constitution and serve all the workers of this country.
To date the Minister has failed to enforce the laws to resolve the impasse with the company which dates back to May 2009 with the suspension of workers who protested unsafe working conditions, escalated in November 2009 with the suspension and subsequent dismissal of 57 workers engaged in a strike for increased wages and improved working conditions.”
The Union pointed also to the June 2010 industrial accident that resulted in the death of a worker and serious injuries to others, and the November 2010 dismissal of four workers whom were among others that protested the company’s insanitary kitchen, infested with rats and cockroaches and the expired food items used to prepare their meals.
It was stated that in neither of the instances did workers violate the laws, “a fact the Minister is aware of yet refuses to act…This is more than enough for any class of worker to have to suffer while a government sits on its laurels and refuses to act, even as it moves with speed to ensure justice is served in other sectors of the workforce.”
The Union said too that it is also evident BCGI is not prepared to honour the bilateral engagements agreed to in the January 6 meeting held with the Minister, Union and company.
“The fact that the Minister in his December 30, 2010 letter to BCGI clearly indicated the company’s breach of the Trade Union Recognition Certificate Act for not treating with the Union and he has the power to recourse to the use of compulsory arbitration as have been done in the past few years, the GB&GWU is going to hold him accountable to his statement and the enforcement of the relevant laws and precedence that would give effect to same.”
The union states that “for the minister to advise the Union that his options are still open after the quality of meetings of January 6th and 13th and failure to hold one on January 12th, the Union’s trust is dwindling.”

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