Over $30M in salaries and benefits owed to Precision workers

Aug 07, 2022 News

6 years after sell-out of company’s assets…

Kaieteur News – Former employees of Precision Woodworking Limited (PWL) are still waiting to collect some $30 million owed to them in salaries and benefits, several months after a sellout of the company’s assets.

Trade unionist, Eon Andrews

PWL’s assets were sold off under a receivership arrangement with Republic Bank Guyana Limited (RBGL) which resulted in a court battle that dragged on for nine long years.

The issue is being highlighted even as trade unionist Eon Andrews continues to lobby for the workers to be paid their full benefits.

In his most recent attempt to secure relief for the former PWL employees, Andrews wrote to the principals of PWL as well as the Head of RBGL demanding answers as to the reason for the protracted time that the workers have not been paid their benefits. According to the correspondence seen by this newspapers, Andrews notes that there has been no response on his queries of when the laid off workers would be paid.

Andrews wrote to the parties on July 7, July 21 and August 3, 2022 requesting the information.

Ronald Bulkan, Managing Director of Precision Woodworking Ltd.

In one of the letters, Andrews who acts an advisor to the workers asked: “why, if the company’s properties have been sold by the receiver – more than six years ago, for hundreds of millions of dollars in excess of their indebtedness, can’t there be a reckoning which would lead to the former employees receiving the balance of their severance benefits?”

In that letter, Andrews also expressed shock that well over a year since the dismissal of the legal action, the receiver has not been discharged” and that to date, both the receiver and the bank are refusing to provide the directors of PWL the financial records regarding their company.

Andrews, in his letter emphasised his interest remains the welfare of the former PWL employees, while adding that given the conclusion of the legal action, their expectation was that the “receiver would be discharged and they would get something from the remaining proceeds.”

In the meantime, Ronald and Rustum Bulkan, the joint Managing Directors of Precision Woodworking Ltd., are continuing their fight in court.

The Bulkans were responsible for establishing and managing PWL, one of Guyana’s leading value-added manufacturers, which was founded in 1983 to manufacture and export high-quality furniture for the European market using indigenous Guyanese hardwoods.

In the Bulkans’ application, a copy of which was seen by this paper, the brothers allege that they have established circumstances that indicate a grave miscarriage of justice, which should warrant the Court of Appeal’s permission of an expedited hearing of their appeal.

On March 7, 2022, via their Attorney, Roysdale Forde, SC, the brothers filed a Motion at the Court of Appeal seeking an expedited hearing of their case against the decision of Justice Navindra Singh delivered on February 15, 2021, in the lawsuit against RBGL and receiver Kashir Khan.

The Bulkans’ affidavit contends that the premise of the decision, based on these struck out sub-paragraphs, was therefore flawed and constituted “a substantial and grave travesty of justice.” They believe that the High Court on this ground did not properly consider their case.

The aggrieved applicants also highlighted that a specialist court, the Commercial Court, took almost nine years to make this flawed decision. They said this was partly because the first defendant, Kashir Khan, took four years to file a witness statement after being ordered by the Court, without reprimand or penalty.

They further allege that the receiver appointed by the Bank, Kashir Khan, has disposed of all of the company’s assets, including prime real estate and specialised manufacturing equipment, and has refused to give them any account of his dealings, nor has he filed accounts with the Registry as required by law.

The Bulkans, in their affidavit, have stated that after the dismissal of their action, they have written to Republic Bank requesting the accounts, which the receiver has refused to provide, and these requests have also been ignored. They pointed out that since they have issued personal guarantees to the Bank, in the absence of the information regarding their accounts, they are denied the opportunity of restarting their business and pursuing legitimate livelihoods.

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