Industrial relations at RUSAL are in order

Aug 09, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
We the concerned employees of BCGI hereby refer to the anonymous letter in your newspaper dated 2016-07-27. The caption reads –“Rusal accused of not adhering to labour laws and has been ill-treating its employees.” The claims of mistreatment mentioned in the letter are misleading and mischievous. There has been no evidence of ill treatment especially after 2009 when the 57 employees were dismiss ( because of their disrespectful and violent behavior at the mine-site and within the operations during the time of a strike.
Unsteady relationships during the 2009 period caused the disconnection between the Company and the Union (GB&GWU) but, BCGI maintained a very good working relationship with its employees by using its Condition of Employment policy that embodied all the applicable labour laws of Guyana.
We the concerned employees have been observing the regular open door meetings at BCGI Office in Aroaima with employees to address complaints. We wish to state also that no worker: were dismissed because of speaking-up for their rights. Further, the allegations in the letter that holidays’ were not being paid for, according to what was agreed upon during the time of the Union is untrue. Holidays are being paid for accordingly. Fresh potable ice water is being supplied daily to workers at the worksite. It is nonsense to trust the statement in the article that several dozens of BCGI employees consume only one bottle of portable water within 7 days. Actually the rate of consumption of drinking water by employees has been several containers (tanks) per day.
In terms of payment to workers; they are being paid performance wise as well as safety bonuses in addition to other benefits and their normal wages and salaries. These extra payments are approximately 30% of the basic wages and salaries received and it is timely to mention that the Company has been promoting social activities such as Mini Olympics, regular honoring of employees and gifts at Christmas. In fact during last month (June 2016) a team of Government officials visited the mine on-site on a fact finding mission and they left the area satisfied with the good standards they had seen. The current industrial climate here is very good while the harsh inclement weather which began since in the month of May 2016 has been causing serious disruption with the Company’s production efforts. During that time, employees suffered no loss in wages and salaries and the Company did not reduce the workforce numbers to compensate for the period of losses.
Concerned employees
14 signatures

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