– picket RUSAL’s office
Affiliates of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) and the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) on February 26, 2019 met at the Critchlow Labour College Boardroom and considered the attitude and demeanor of foreign-owned enterprises with regards to the Guyanese working-class.
The meeting came against the backdrop of the recent actions of the Bauxite Company of Guyana (BCGI) decision to dismiss, without any regard to laws and conventions, over 90 workers. The workers dismissal was linked to their participation in a legitimate, justifiable, expression regarding the imposition of pay rise by BCGI. The workers right to protest is now incontrovertible and the actions by the Company cannot be seen as justifiable in any light. But while the BCGI sheds crocodile tears, it, at the same time, has, so far, failed to explain, in any convincing manner, its rationale for not engaging the recognized union – the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU). In fact, we believe, such an explanation has been unforthcoming as no sensible explanation can be proffered in the first place. It should not be forgotten that the Constitution of Guyana and the Trade Union Recognition Act compels employers to engage the legitimate workers organisation in Collective Bargaining.
BCGI’s action, the meeting recognized dismayingly, is not an isolated incident but rather seems to be a reflex action by foreign-enterprises operating locally. This dismal conclusion was reached after the meeting noted that an almost similar approach was embraced by the Malaysian-owned Demerara Timbers Limited (DTL). The DTL, in 2016, had moved to dismiss a number of workers after they took part in a protest exercise outside that Company’s Head Office in Kingston, Georgetown. That matter was subsequently settled after the intervention of the Courts were sought. Since then, the Company has been refusing to engage the recognised bargaining agent – the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) – and has even gone as far as refusing to attend meetings summoned by the Department of Labour of the Ministry of Social Protection. The GAWU shared with the meeting that it has drawn to the DTL’s attention its blatant disregard for our country’s laws and practices but the Company has remained intransigent. In the circumstances, the GAWU informed the Trade Union Recognition and Certification Board (TURCB) about the DTL’s attitude and the TURCB, at a recent meeting, agreed to certain actions to ensure that the Company is in compliance.
Similarly the Movement recalled that the National Mine Workers Union (NMWU) in 2017, called attention to certain breaches by the Canadian-owned Guyana Goldfields Inc. The Union, at that time, had also expressed concern that workers were not being granted any pay rises and were bothered about the composition of the Workers’ Complaint Committee. The FITUG/GTUC also recalled concerns being expressed, in the media, regarding employees employed with El Dorado Offshore (EDO), another foreign enterprise involved in the oil sector, who could be fired were they to disclose their working-conditions. While EDO subsequently denied the concerns, media reports has pointed out that employees contracts contained a clause which stated that the Company “may terminate the employment immediately” for “disclosing information, not available to the general public, about EDO or EDO’s business plans, the vessel or any other information about the nature of employment, such as wages and benefits, to any third party”. This clause, according to the media, was not disputed by the Company and brings into question EDO’s employment practices.
As the Unions present took stock of the actions and machinations of foreign-enterprises regarding their local workforce it gave rise to valid concerns about the esteem those companies hold for their workers. Undoubtedly, those workers, through their sweat and toil, play no small role in ensuring those enterprises enjoy profits and sometimes super profits as well. With many foreign-enterprises operating in the extractive sectors, those workers make sacrifices to be away from their loved ones, sometimes for extended periods, but yet, in spite of those laudable efforts, are treated with apparent disdain and scorn when they demand their fair share of the pie.
The actions of foreign-enterprises in Guyana are by and large no different from their practices in other third-world nations as well. Many reports and articles, in several countries, have spoken to nearly identical situations as the profit-motive, it appears, trumps every other concern, including environmental well-being and employees welfare. Our concerns, at this time, are heightened recognizing that several foreign companies have established themselves, in recent times, as they seek to benefit from opportunities flowing from the oil and gas sector. As the nation now counts the months to when it joins the ranks of the global few as a commercial oil producer, the Trade Union Movement has serious questions regarding these companies compliance with our labour laws, concerns related to agreements and general norms and practices linked to their engagements in Guyana.
The Trade Union Movement wishes to place on record that it is not averse to foreign investment. But, at the same time, we have justifiable concerns regarding the practices and ploys embraced by some foreign-enterprises operating locally. On this score, we were heartened that the Government has indicated that workers rights must be upheld. We indeed look forward to the Government giving meaning to its utterances recognizing now-a-days the neoliberal construct of the economy.
The Trade Union Movement also, at this time, calls on the BCGI to immediately reinstate the more than 90 dismissed workers without any loss in pay and status, and to engage the recognized union sincerely in Collective Bargaining.
