RUSAL standoff… “Labour Ministry incompetent” – Riot police gearing up for standoff with workers – says Lincoln Lewis

Feb 08, 2020 News

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..Says riot police gearing up for standoff with workers

As tensions heighten between the laid off workers from RUSAL and law enforcement officers, the President of the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union, Lincoln Lewis, has called out the Labour Department for their blatant “incompetence” on resolving the issue.

Lewis was at the time addressing the media at an impromptu press briefing to provide an update on the situation at hand.
It was only Wednesday that the sacked workers, aided by the residents of Kwakwani, re-blocked the Berbice River cleared by law enforcement officers who were called in some two weeks after the blockage was placed.
But this was not without conflict, as the police and resident clashed for not allowing them to re-block the river. Kaieteur News was informed that police went into the area and removed the blockage but within an hour, residents and workers, had replaced it.
According to Lewis, this clash, should not have occurred as the workers are only pleading for their rights to be upheld.
“Yesterday’s altercation with the police, workers and residents in Aroaima did not have to happen. These are workers; these are citizens of Guyana. All they are fighting for, all they are asking is for the Rule of Law to be applied.”
The Union Head stated it was strange that law enforcement officers only entered the area two weeks after the river was blocked. Who called them, is still not known.

“We don’t know who did it but whosoever do it, if they want to continue to behave the same way and turn their guns on the people, it’s cool with us, the people will react…”
According to Lewis, riot police are gearing up for the standoff off but this will not sit well with the workers and the residents in the area. But sources on the ground relayed to Kaieteur News that police have left the area as the blockage remains.

Lewis explained to the press that they had a meeting with the Chief Labour Officer, Charles Ogle, and representatives of RUSAL for conciliation.
However, he posited that this process should have wrapped up months ago, paving the way for arbitration. The hold up, he blamed on the Labour Ministry and accused them of being unable to handle the issue as is needed.
“Ogle, Scott and the others in there are incompetent…a bunch of incompetent men who are working for the employer against the state.”
He said that since the Russian-controlled Bauxite Company, entered Guyana, they have not been held accountable for their actions.
“Nobody wants to hold RUSAL accountable for its conduct since it came here…from Jagdeo. The only person who tried was Ramotar. Amna Ally tried but her effort was weak and she began to run away…We have to start representing our people…”
Lewis said that the previous meeting between the company and ministers was useless. The company had no intention of rehiring the workers, he said.
“They are going and asking RUSAL in the first instance to re-employ these people…RUSAL carry away all their equipment…If these people carrying away their equipment, you believe any word from them that they will re-employ those people?”
He said that the Ministry is looking for someone to lay blame on and the union fell victim.

“They looking for the boogeyman, they looking for somebody in the union to blame…you stand up for your rights in this country and they blame you…if you stand up and ask that the laws be respected, you are wrong…”
The Union Head called once again, for government to move the matter to arbitration, deemed the last resort to resolving the matter.
“All it requires is arbitration. Since last year August, the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union has been asking for the parties– the BCGI management and Union- to move to arbitration, to allow the processes in the Grievance Procedure to work.”
The blocking of the river over a week ago came after Bauxite Company of Guyana/Rusal sent home workers claiming that it has little fuel left, because it has not been approved for duty free concessions by the Guyana Revenue Authority. The authority denied that this was so.
Rusal, however, sent home more workers – more than 300 of them – and reportedly said it has withdrawn its expatriates from the country.
For several days now, Rusal has been unable to move out its bauxite from the Kurubuka mine area, to Aroiama, where the barges are waiting to take it to Berbice River mouth area for shipment out of Guyana. This is because of the barrier.
Rusal has been here over a decade, taking over the Aroaima operations before opening the Kurubuka mine area. Employing more than 300 workers, the company ran afoul of the labour laws, according to the union, by sacking more than 50 employees in 2009. That matter was never resolved.

 

 

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