Rusal is an insulting company

Feb 17, 2019 Editorial

Workers have rights; fundamental rights; sacred rights, as enshrined in the constitution and labour laws of this country. And yet here it is that another company, a foreign company, first slaps them in the face, and then sticks a finger in their eye, as if to add insult to injury.
The government has a myriad of issues to deal with at this time; but this is one problem that it cannot-and must not-allow to go unaddressed. And addressed it must be in the most urgent and unflinching manner.
Rusal, in the bauxite sector, offers its workers a meagre one percent increase, in and of itself an incredible, and flagrantly demeaning, gesture; one that reeks of disdain and dismissal for whatever reaction this would provoke on the part of workers.
Yes, it is a struggling sector that is in need of serious foreign investment funds, and which an underdeveloped country such as Guyana readily embraces. But not at any price; not without the rules of engagement in labour disagreements being laid out upfront; not without specific protocols to be identified and followed, when disagreements deteriorate into disputes, and then impasse.
This is to prevent the rancour and hostility that is a usual, but an undesired, byproduct of escalating worker-management tensions.
The Guyana Trade Union Recognition and Certification Act provides for the rules of engagement with the recognized workers’ representatives when circumstances so demand. Rusal, from all indications and reports, did act unilaterally.
The company did so through its decision to IMPOSE that one percent pay increase. It is clear that Rusal proceeded outside of the existing Collective Bargaining Agreement and acted in a manner that can only be described as very aggressive AND IN BAD FAITH.
It was if the unmistakable intention was to seize the opportunity to stick it to the striking workers, and to make sure that the hard message registers.
A one percent offer in any sector to any group of workers in any part of the world would, and should be, interpreted as intended to send an outrageous and sure-to-enrage message: take it or leave. Refuse at peril. Object and it is curtains. Take action and it is over. And that is exactly what transpired in the aftermath of that degrading 1% offer. Workers’ reaction was swift; Rusal’s reaction was equally swift and undeniably ruthless.
It has to be wondered whether, in some manner, the company did not operate on a premediated basis. It is understood that within a few short hours after the workers took action, there was a communication to vacate the premises.
Now this is more than the worksite involved. Some of the striking workers live on the premises, so the consequences of their strike action involve at the very least two basic things. Those are the ability to feed their families, and to provide shelter for them.
In one fell swoop, Rusal has taken bread out of the mouth of the Guyanese worker while, at the same time, removed the roof from over his family’s head.
This is unacceptable today and under this current administration. This was unacceptable when it occurred in that same sector in 2009, but under a different government. Nothing was done then; it is hoped that something of substance will be done today.
Government after government seems to be either not interested enough, or caring enough, or involved enough. The stance has to be, this palpable disrespect has to stop.
It must start with how companies, such as Rusal, are made to act responsibly through holding their feet to the fire. Eyes are on this government to determine its reaction.

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