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Employees get millions in Labour Ministry redress actions
…as entity looks to become a Sub-Accounting Agency
Labour Minister, Dr. Nanda Gopaul, makes a point during yesterday’s press briefing
More than $25.6M was recovered by the Ministry of Labour during the past year in response to various complaints levelled by employees during the past year. This disclosure was made by Minister of Labour, Dr. Nanda Gopaul, during a press briefing at his Cornhill Street, Stabroek, Georgetown office where he reflected on the Ministry’s performance.
The Minister yesterday shared the spotlight with Permanent Secretary, Ms. Lorene Baird; Chief Labour Officer, Mr. Charles Ogle; Chief Cooperatives Development Officer, Mr. Kareem Abdul-Jabar; and Chief Executive Officer of the Board of Industrial Training, Mr. Roderick Nurse.
Dr. Gopaul said, yesterday, that 16 collective labour agreements were countersigned by the Ministry and lodged during the course of this year arising out of complaints by employees at various entities.
There were 953 complaints of varying kinds brought to the attention of the Ministry. Among them were wrongful dismissals, dismissals without compensation, failure to observe the one-week notice, and failure to pay leave allowance and overtime.
Dr. Gopaul said, “We recovered $25,688,445 and paid employees, whose rights under several aspects of our labour laws, had been violated.” According to him a total of 34 charges were filed in the courts against 14 defaulting employers.
Turning his attention to labour inspections, Dr. Gopaul said that earlier this year he had highlighted the need to visit a number of workplaces to ensure strict compliance of existing labour laws.
He said, “I am happy to report that we have been able to complete 1,311 inspections of business properties.”
The Labour Minister said, too, that almost all were in compliance to occupational health and safety observance and rules governing the labour laws.
Emphasising his conviction that this year yielded many satisfactory results, Dr. Gopaul said that in terms of industrial action there was a drastic reduction in strike activities in the country, especially in the sugar industry.
This sector, according to him, saw a total of 131 strikes this year compared to 221 the previous years. Six additional strike actions of small durations were carried out at the Demerara Timbers Limited, the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown and the University of Guyana. One state entity, the Bureau of Statistics, was this year involved in such actions, according to Dr. Gopaul.
At the Statistical Bureau, he said, there was a periodic sit-in exercise. “All of these activities were of very short duration so I believe as we move forward we are going to see a reduction in industrial activities because we are working to curb them and to resolve industrial disputes more and more before they reach the stage where protest action have to be taken.”
However, the past year was not without its challenges, Dr. Gopaul admitted, even as he disclosed that the Ministry was faced with the shortage of staff in the Labour Department. This, he said, saw a request being made for a number of vacancies to be filled and these are currently being actively considered.
As part of its mandate the Labour Ministry had this year represented issues at various levels in Government with a view of having it become a Sub-Accounting Agency. This move, according to Dr. Gopaul, is premised on the fact that there were enormous delays within the Ministry as it relates to accessing funds in order to carry out its duties.
“So we have made representation and we have been given the green light that very shortly we will see our Ministry becoming self-accounting,” related the Minister.
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