Latest update December 19th, 2024 3:22 AM
Nov 14, 2020 News
– Union says Labour Minister ignores calls for intervention
Kaieteur News – President of the National Mine Workers Union (NMWUG), Sherwin Downer, has accused Chinese-operated Aurora Gold Mines (AGM) of discriminating against unionized workers. Compounding the issues are also allegations that the Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton, is ignoring calls for a probe.
Earlier this week AGM, now controlled by Chinese company, ZIJIN Mining Group, had shared their decision to rehire a number of former and new employees. This rehiring played part of the preparation for the full resumption of the gold company’s operations, it had said.
“The company has decided to transfer those employees who were hired by AGM to work for the contractor Sinohydro. The total number of employees who would be affected in this exercise, in the initial stage, will be a total of 141, which includes a total of 24 permanent employees and 117 employees who were hired on a three months contract,” a release from the company had stated.
However, what Downer indicated to Kaieteur News is that the company is allegedly sidelining workers who are unionized. “The rehiring process is not transparent at all,” Downer said. “Former unionized employees have not been given first preference, as was previously agreed to verbally by AGM/ZIJIN.”
To give power to his claims, Downer sent Kaieteur News voice notes which were shared with him by two of the unionized workers. In one of the voice notes, the worker emphatically stated that, “About four of us were called to go into work and were warned by the company that we should not have anything to do with the union. My question to you is what is going on?”
In the second voice note another man is heard telling Downer that a “list” was submitted to the Human Resources Officer, following which he alleges that some of the names were “blacklisted” because of their union membership.
“This is totally unacceptable and disrespectful to the union by AGM/ ZIJIN. It is anti-union. All signs and indications are clear,” Downer commented.
Although Downer hasn’t been privy to the new contract that the workers signed, he is adamant that “urgent government intervention” is needed to stop the “abuse of contractual arrangements”.
When pressed about what evidence Downer possessed to substantiate his claims of the said abuse of contract agreements, he responded with, “Because of bad past experiences at AGM. This was the case for hundreds of former employees of Guyana Goldfields who lost all their benefits after working for years as contract employees.”
The Union President even sought to rap the Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton, who he says has been ignoring the union’s concerns, which were directly registered with the Minister in a September 3 meeting.
“This is beyond sad, even though the minister was and is continuing to be updated on almost everything that happened at AGM/ ZIJIN. As President of the National Mine Workers Union of Guyana I wish to remind the Minister for Labour that he is duty-bound and the onus falls on him and his ministry to ensure that Guyanese workers are treated fairly, respected and that their rights is not trampled upon by their employers,” Downer reminded.
According to Downer, AGM is in “desperate need” of labour, but he expresses that mining workers are been treated as disposable as the resources of the mine.
With this he asked, “What are the success stories of mining workers, as mining remains one of the largest contributor to Guyana’s gross domestic product?” It is against these concerns that the Union President stressed the importance of mining workers being represented on the developing Local Content Policy.
ZIJIN Mining Group
In August last, ZIJIN Mining Group, one of the largest gold, copper and zinc producers in China, secured the acquisition of Guyana Goldfields for Canadian $323 million.
With the company’s arrival to Guyana’s shores, comes its deadly and environmentally unsound past, which threatens the health of Guyana’s natural environment and the safety of its workers.
The company is plagued with several instances of grave and disastrous impacts. Here are two of the worst. In 2010, Zijin was forced to approve a payout of US$7.5M to various individuals, after a dam collapsed at a tin mine, owned by its subsidiary, Xinyi ZIJIN, killing 28 people.
Reuters reported that 523 homes were destroyed in the Guangdong Province due to the collapse.
Notwithstanding, AGM, now under Zijin’s management, indicated that it has also engaged contractor, Sinohydro Corporation Limited, for the stripping and mining activities at its mines at Aurora.
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