The ongoing dispute between the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU) and management of the RUSAL Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc (BCGI) yesterday intensified, when the company terminated the Collective Labour Agreement and disclosed its intention to move to have the union “derecognized”.
General Manager of the Company Sergey Kostyuk in a letter sent to President of the union Charles Sampson said that the Collective Labour Agreement between the two entities and the Labour Ministry was “terminated with immediate effect”. “We wish to advise that Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. hereby deems the Collective Labour Agreement (CLA) entered into between the Company, the Guyana Bauxite and Workers’ Union, and the Ministry of Labour dated the 4th April, 2008, as terminated with immediate effect.”
In the letter dated December 1, 2009, Kostyuk alleges that the union “committed fundamental breaches of the CLA by causing and/or directing industrial action against the company.” He said that such actions on May 30, May 22 and November 22 caused the company to suffer severe losses and damages.” According to the General Manager, these actions are seen as “grave and serious breaches” and “as a repudiation of the CLA”. “The company accepts this repudiation and regards the Agreement as at an end.”
Kostyuk further said that the “company will move to derecognize the Union.” He said that this was based on the loss of confidence in the union by both the company and “a number of workers”. The correspondence was also sent to Labour Minister Manzoor Nadir and Chief Labour Officer Yoganand Persaud.
When Stabroek News contacted the President’s union, he lambasted the actions of the company as being “illegal”. According to him the company did not have the authority to make such a move.
He said that the letter was only presented to the union yesterday when representatives of the union and the company met with the Chief Labour Officer to try to settle the ongoing dispute. According to him, the Chief Labour Officer himself appeared to be taken aback by the actions of the company and refused to deal with the issue of the letter.
Sampson also said that the union had the full support of the workers. According to him, after returning to Linden yesterday afternoon, a meeting was held with the bauxite workers and the workers pledged to continue their strike actions, even in spite of the recent moves by the company.
Meanwhile when contacted last evening Labour Minister Manzoor Nadir said he was hoping that a settlement could be reached quickly between both entities; since both the workers and the shareholders in the company were suffering.
Asked about the move to have the union derecognized, Nadir explained that this could only be done if the BCGI applied to the Trade Union Recognition and Certification Board. He said that this entity would then have a process to follow such as the conducting of polls to determine whether the union has lost the support of the workers. He said only after the completion of this process could the Board rule.
Section 30 (1) of the law does allow for the employer to apply for a variation of the bargaining unit and record of certification, or recognition. However, according to sec 30 (4) 3 (c) of the Trade Union Recognition Act, “The Board shall not entertain an application under this subsection unless it is satisfied that not less than fifty percent of the workers comprised in the bargaining unit have signified in writing their concurrence in the application.”
Section 31 of the Act states that “on an application made by a minimum of forty percent of workers in a bargaining unit for which a union is certified the Board shall cause a poll to be taken to determine whether the union shall continue to be certified.”
The Minister, however, emphasised that he could not intervene in this process since this Board was an independent body.
He, however, was hopeful that the Chief Labour Officer could bring the BCGI and the union to a settlement, although he pointed to some initial challenges being experienced in this process.
There has been an ongoing dispute between workers of the company and the union since the union and the company could not agree on terms of resumption. The dispute heightened last week when the workers staged a massive protest which resulted in them blocking the main access roads at the Aroaima and Kwakwani locations of the company.
