Rusal’s workers cite working conditions, appeal for govt. intervention

May 31, 2017 News

Bauxite workers of Region 10 are appealing for government’s intervention to help

Some of the equipment at the Kurubuka site.

improve conditions in the mine sites areas.
Workers, complaining to Kaieteur News earlier this week, disclosed that save for a few hours of visit by Ministers Simona Broomes and Keith Scott, little attention is being paid to the Aroaima and Kurubuka sites, located along the Upper Berbice River areas.
The area is licensed to Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. (BCGI), a subsidiary of Russian-owned, Rusal. However, since coming here in the mid-2000s, the company has been at loggerheads with labour officials and workers. Almost 60 workers were fired for protesting working conditions.
The company has not been willing to engage the labour officials and is refusing to recognize any union, including the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers’ Union (GBGWU).
According to a number of aggrieved workers who visited the offices of Kaieteur News, they are desperately seeking the return of a union to represent their concerns.
“We had asked the government for concessions on our income tax (Pay As You Earn) and we were granted that. But there are several things happening at the sites that are placing workers in jeopardy.”
It was claimed that not only are there no emergency vehicles if something happens to a worker, but the conditions are poor.
“We have people living there and the food that cooked is not fit for decent people. We have rain falling on our head through the roof.”
It was explained that all of Rusal’s managers are Russians who live comfortably in homes provided.
“We have tried raising the issue with them over time, but nothing is being done. The areas in which we work are highly dangerous with some of the equipment not being safe. This is especially so in the Kurubuka site,” one man explained.

Workers at the Kurubuka site, Upper Berbice River, Region 10.

Workers at Rusal come from Linden, Kwakwani and Ituni in Region 10, and even from East Berbice.
“It is not like the company is doing bad. They shipping lots of bauxite. Imagine at one time, one man had to pay $50,000 for a truck mirror that got broke. How could that be? The last meeting we had with the managers of Rusal was in November. So yes, we want government to step in.”
Following the closure of the bauxite industry, once a big earner until the 1980’s, it was not until the entrance of Rusal that things started to moved again.
Chinese-owned Bosai then entered the fray, acquiring an operation in Linden.
Rusal is said to have less than 500 workers, and operates up to three shifts.
Founded in December 2004 under an agreement between Rusal and the Government of Guyana, the former owns a 90% stake in the company, the remaining 10% belongs to the Guyanese government.
In 2006, Rusal acquired the assets of Aroaima Mining Company from the Government of Guyana and transferred them to the Bauxite Company of Guyana
Rusal owns licences to develop Linden, Kwakwani and Ituni deposit groups in Guyana.