Bauxite Union wants to engage RUSAL on outstanding matters

Apr 28, 2017 News

General Secretary of the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers’ Union (GB&GWU), Lincoln Lewis said yesterday that his Union will be working on arranging a sit down with the Management of the Russian Aluminium Company

GB&GWU General Secretary, Lincoln Lewis

(RUSAL).
Seeking an update on the Industrial Relations engagement between the company and the Union, this newspaper yesterday contacted Lewis, who said that there is no significant update on the Union’s engagement with the company.
He said that as of late, all that has been happening are exchanges of correspondence between the two entities. Lewis said that the company had sent two proposals to the Union. However, the Union representative said that he believes more can be done if both parties sit and have a face to face discourse to iron out matters which have not been dealt with.
The last time a sit down was arranged between the GB&GWU and Rusal was November of last year when representatives of the company failed to appear at a meeting with officials of the Ministry of Social Protection’s Department of Labour.
The meeting was organised by the Ministry to discuss a number of outstanding labour-related issues which exist between the company and the Union. The company was chided on that occasion by Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection with responsibility for Labour, Keith Scott. He had said that himself and then Minister of Social Protection, Volda Lawrence were upset and annoyed with RUSAL’s failure to attend the meeting.
Scott went further to say that his Ministry was concerned at the lack of respect by the company. He said that such behaviour would not be encouraged.
“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.”
The Ministry and the company had met in August 2016 to discuss over 30 grievances which workers had expressed to ministry representatives when they had visited the company’s mining site.
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.

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