The Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU) is urging Labour Minister Manzoor Nadir to convene talks between the union and the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc (BCGI), in keeping with a recent commitment he made to the global union federation, ICEM.
Acting General Secretary of the union Leslie Gonsalves sent a letter to Nadir on Friday indicating the union’s willingness to engage the BCGI as soon as possible, as it noted that Nadir had indicated his willingness to facilitate dialogue between the two entities. The GB&GWU and BCGI have been at loggerheads for the last eight months. Following a strike by the union, the company dismissed 57 of its employees.
In a release the union said the letter is a reminder to Nadir about the commitment he made to the General Secretary of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM). The union said Nadir made the commitment to ICEM officials at a meeting held at the federation’s head office in Geneva, Switzerland. ICEM represents mining trade unions in 100 countries with over 20 million workers.
When contacted on Friday evening for clarification on the matter, Nadir said: “I am not going to conduct my business with the GB&GWU in the press.”
According to the union, the minister had not informed it of the time for the talks between the parties as he agreed with the ICEM. “The union hopes that consistent with the principle of agreement the minister would put systems in place as soon as possible to initiate talks.” The union said that it looked forward to the minister proceeding in a manner consistent with his responsibility as vested under Section 4(1) of the Labour Law 98:01 to bring an end to the dispute.
Nadir represented Guyana at the annual International Labour Conference of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva. While there, he presented an information dossier on the dispute between the GB&GWU and the BCGI to ICEM.
