GGMC workers intensify strike action

Jan 13, 2015 News

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Given the procrastination on the part of management to reach an agreement for increases in wages and salaries, workers of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, (GGMC) have intensified strike action amidst calls for an end to the prolonged negotiations.
Yesterday, GGMC workers downed tools and resumed protest exercise in front Minister of Natural Resources, Robert Persaud’s Brickdam Office, voicing their dissatisfaction at the manner in which they are being compensated for their labour.

The workers called on the management of the commission to pay up or face continuous industrial action. Representatives of Guyana Public Service Union, (GPSU) led the way as an estimated 60 per cent of GGMC staff and field workers joined in the demonstration exercise.
“We fed up ah de same thing over and over …no money no wuk,” workers shouted as they stood in the scorching mid morning sun yesterday.
Last year, employees of GGMC began strike action for increased wages and salaries, in the wake of failures by their management to reach an agreement on the issue.   In December, the union managed to acquire an eight per cent interim increase for workers but negotiations between representatives of the union and the management of GGMC for 2013 and 2014 are yet to be finalised.
GPSU has been pressing for workers to receive as much as a 35 per cent increase in their wages and salaries but the Commission has been prolonging the negotiations to come to an agreement on the matter.
In the wake of the strike, GGMC had issued a statement claiming that the Ministry of Labour had recommended that the Union and workers should cease their strike action and resume work to allow for the continuation of the negotiating process. However, members of the union dismissed this notion as rubbish.
Yesterday, Senior Industrial Relations Officer of GPSU, Dennis English, noted that the management of GGMC has been dragging its feet on the issue, presumably without reason.
“The question remains, why are the payments taking so long? Nobody seems to be specifically answering that… We are open to any reasonable engagements we can have to have the situation return to normalcy because workers are out here for a purpose and unless they’re satisfied that their objective has been achieved the struggle will continue,” English
The GPSU official said that he especially disappointed that added to the delays the Commission had issued a statement labeling the strike as an illegal act.
English held that GPSU has always ensured that it is within ambits of law and appropriate procedures before taking action.
“It is good that good sense seems to have prevailed on the part of those in authority to refrain from the road they were going down to try to create a distraction to real issue or try to mislead the public as to the status of our action,” he added.
English said that the Union has warned the commission that such acts will not harvest well for a good industrial relations climate and a cordial Union/Management relationship.
“We are out here for a specific purpose. Workers were taken for granted and they decided that they do not want to be taken for granted any longer.”
Jermaine Hermanstein, another Industrial Relations Officer attached to the Union related that the GGMC’s management and representatives of GPSU had met at Ministry of Labour, last Friday for further discussions on the matter.
Hermanstein disclosed that although the meeting did not end in an agreement for an increase in workers’ salaries, the management undertook to have the issue resolved in the shortest possible time.
Asked when the strike action will end, the GPSU official said, “It is not up to the Union to end the strike but GGMC’s management since workers are adamant that they will not seize industrial action until that their demands are favourly met.
“I can assure you that every day that the strike continues the management is losing millions of dollars. The management has made it clear that the decision to pay lies with the Minister. We are hoping that the Minister will sign off on the documents to make way for workers to receive the payments.”
Meanwhile, Administrative Coordinator of  Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association, (GGDMA) Colin Sparman said that the GGMC strike action will have a severe impact on the industry should it continue.
He noted that all business transactions relative to mining are conducted via the Commission.
Sparman said that the strike will have a serve impact on small and large scale miners especially at this time of year since all rental fees, claims, license fees and other transactions are done via the Commission.
The GGDMA official said, too, that miners have always depended on GGMC Mines Officers to police and monitor operations in the fields, a service which will be affected by the strike.
However, when contacted yesterday, officials of the Guyana Gold Board declined to comment on the matter.

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