RUSAL a no show at labour talks with Ministry, Union

Nov 17, 2016 News

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…absence described as disrespectful
Representatives from the Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated, controlled by Russian Aluminium Company (RUSAL) operating in Guyana, failed to appear at a meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Social

Protection Labour Department yesterday at the ministry’s Brickdam office.
The meeting was organised by the ministry to discuss the outstanding labour-related issues between the company and the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers’ Union (GB&GWU).
According to Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection, with responsibility for Labour, Keith Scott, the meeting was an effort for the Ministry to finally put to rest the problems that have existed between the union and the bauxite company since the suspension of 67 workers and the dismissal of 57 between 2009 and 2010.
“This matter in our opinion has been going on far too long and it has seen a course of action that involved the courts, involved strikes, involved the union relentlessly pursuing the cause of the workers of a period of time.”
Scott said that he and Minister of Social Protection Volda Lawrence are upset and annoyed with RUSAL’s omission to show up for the meeting.
“We summoned the bauxite company here to speak with us and the union; we’re upset that this company has shown contempt to us as a ministry, to us as a government, in that they have arbitrarily determined what is right and what is wrong. They cannot make a decision for the union or for us, and their absence today we view very seriously.”
He said that his ministry is now totally concerned at the lack of respect by the company. Scott said that this type of behaviour will not be encouraged by any company, whether local or foreign, or from any union.
“We will not accept this any longer, I don’t know what went on in the past with any other government, but this government over the last 17 months has made every effort to see a peaceful and amicable resolution of the outstanding issues.”
Scott said that his ministry had received a correspondence from the company which contains several inaccuracies which when researched, and they (at the ministry) have been able to say with authority that the highlighted issues were wrongly conceived.
He said that his government will ensure that workers’ rights are respected and that Guyana is given the respect due to it as an independent nation, without compromise.
“We wish to let it be known of our extreme anger at the behaviour of RUSAL towards us. We will not accept that.”
Representative of the GB&GWU Lincoln Lewis, who was there to represent the workers, said that the trade union community was not surprised at RUSAL/BCGI’s refusal to turn up at the meeting.
He said the issue has reached a point where the sovereignty of the state is being challenged. “When the ministers can write the company and invite them to a meeting with the recognised union and they decide that they are not going to come, they have constantly decided that they are not going to talk to the ministry in the presence of the union.”
Lewis said that it has reached the point where Guyanese have to search for common ground to see how the nation is going to deal with a group of people who have decided that regardless of how their presence is seen, they are going to treat workers anyhow.
He said that the company has to either respect the law or an alternative has to be found.
When asked what will be the next move in getting the company to obey the laws and respect the ministry and union, Minister Scott said that the matter will be taken to a higher level.
He said, “The government is more than the Ministry of Social Protection and our colleagues can be involved in charting the way forward in terms of how we deal with this union specifically and this involves our legal team as well.”
The company along with ministry officials had met in August of this year to discuss over 30 grievances which workers expressed to ministry representatives when they visited the company’s mining sites.
Additionally, in that same month the GB&GWU had condemned the government for meeting with the bauxite company in the absence of complying with the 2012 High Court decision to reissue letters for the start of arbitration.
The Union had said that the move by government signalled the state’s complicity with a foreign management to disrespect the nation’s judiciary and rights of Guyanese labour. The company was also reprimanded for hiring employees on a written contract which stood to rob the country’s treasury of national insurance and income tax deductions.
Consultant to the Labour Department Francis Carryl had promised that steps would be taken to ensure that the company complies with the rules since workers stand to lose in case of injury on the job.

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