Barama to meet Labour officials on workers’ future

Oct 22, 2016 News

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The Ministry of Social Protection has called for a meeting with Barama Company Limited (BCL) to discuss its workers’ future.
“Out of concern for the employees as well as the future of the company, the Ministry has invited the company along with the last known recognised trade union for discussions pertaining to the possible impact the company’s contemplated actions is likely to have on the workers future,” a statement from the ministry said yesterday.
BCL announced earlier this week that it was scaling back on operations amidst falling world prices on timber. A new agreement was being negotiated with the Government of Guyana.
The Ministry said that it is always concerned with the socio-economic affairs of workers throughout the entire employment spectrum of Guyana.
“Whether they are from the public sector or the private sector, the wellbeing of workers is always foremost in the focus of the Ministry. Such issues as worker-management relations, working conditions, occupational safety and health and security of tenure are always positioned within the immediate interest of the ministry.”
The Malaysian-owned company, up to last year, had around 800 workers at its Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara and Buck Hall, Essequibo River locations.
Barama says it wants to concentrate on its veener and plywood operations and sawmilling.
The company has also built up a network of suppliers and other service providers who will be affected from the closure of the logging activities.
The company has notified Government that it no longer wants the 1.6M hectares of forests it controls.
It was the largest forest concessions holder in the country and has been here since the 90s.
Barama was also one of two major investors that came to Guyana in the early 90’s, along with the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT).
On Thursday, the Ministry of Natural Resources said that it plans to launch a review to determine exactly what Guyana benefitted from over the last 25 years.
Following the review, the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) will be determining what to do with the 1.6M hectares that BCL has now given up.
With BCL’s concessions and 600,000-plus hectares that were repossessed recently from Chinese-owned BaiShanLin, Guyana now has an additional 2M hectares of forests lands available for re-allocations.
The Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) had confirmed that BCL has notified the Government of Guyana that it has opted not to renew its Forest Concession Agreement which expired on October 15, 2016, after 25 years.
The ministry said that discussions on the renewal had commenced over a year ago, with BCL being provided with a draft agreement for review and negotiations. A task force was established to examine Barama’s operations to pave the way for a new agreement.
“BCL in communicating its decision not to renew its concession noted that the company concluded that it was no longer viable to continue in the forestry operations in view of prevailing global prices.”
Barama’s decision has given Guyana some opportunities, the ministry said Thursday.
“The decision of BCL presents an opportunity to engage in a stocktaking exercise where Government can objectively assess the value of the standing forest through its contribution to the ecosystem while simultaneously examining the value of the past 25 years to the people of Guyana.”
According to Government officials, this review will likely entail examining what Barama exported in terms of logs and the revenues that were earned by the GFC and other state agencies from the various operations of the company.
The assessment would be pivotal in the decision-making process as it relates to economic empowerment and development of sustainable livelihoods of present and future generations.
The Ministry made it clear that the concessions that Barama held will be up for re-allocations.
“Following the review, the Guyana Forestry Commission will shortly be making a determination about the future allocation of the Barama concession.”
Already, the MNR has mandated GFC to work with Barama to ensure a “smooth closure” of all concession related activities within the stipulated period, and to ensure that “all labour and other related issues” are fully addressed in a holistic manner in keeping with applicable laws and regulations.
“The government thanks BCL for its involvement over the past 25 years, and will be engaging the company in further discussions on its stated interest in the continuation of the added value activities.”
While Barama initially started with the extraction of logs, it eventually ventured into manufacturing of plywood and evolved to include veneer and sawn timber operation.
In 1993, it established a plywood operation. This was followed by the establishing of a sawmill operation in 1996 at its Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara site and two others at the Buckhall site in 2006 and 2008.
According to GFC figures, Guyana has almost 12.6M hectares of state forest with around 6.9M allocated for forestry and other activities.
GFC, through consecutive Governments, has been pushing forestry operators to increase production, arguing that the annual allowable cuts were far below expectations.

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