Dear Editor,
The Stabroek News edition of December 25, 2010 reported that Labour Minister Manzoor Nadir had informed the National Assembly that the Labour Ministry had remained engaged with the workers who were dismissed by RUSAL (Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc) and to date only four had visited the ministry. He further sought to blame the Guyana Bauxite & General Workers Union for being hesitant about getting the workers to visit the ministry.
The Minister is misleading the National Assembly and nation and were he to be asked to provide evidence of the claims he made he would be unable to do so.
The facts are: 1) Since March the union provided the ministry with copies of all the 57 dismissal letters issued to the workers by BCGI, and 2) in relation to the four workers the minister claimed the ministry has engaged and the assertion that it is dealing with the matter “condignly,” to date it has done absolutely nothing on behalf of these workers. If the ministry is serious about solving this matter they would have already addressed the case of the four and it would have shown that it is prepared to uphold its legal commitment.
The government, Minister, Chief Labour Officer and some operatives in the ministry, if they are allowed their way, would prefer not to have a resolution of the BCGI dismissal of the workers and the company’s refusal to engage the union. This goes contrary to the Trade Union Recognition Act 98:07 Section 23. (1) ‘Compulsory recognition and duty to treat’ which expressly states: “Where a trade union obtains a certificate of recognition for workers comprised in a bargaining unit in accordance with this Part, the employer shall recognise the union, and the union and the employer shall bargain in good faith and enter into negotiations with each other for the purpose of collective bargaining.”
Under the Labour Law 98:01, Section 4, the Minister is empowered to act to bring a resolution to the matter, yet he refuses to act after more than a year, which sees 62 workers continuing to be denied the right the work, with losses to themselves and families of over $70M in income and counting for every day the matter stays unresolved.
How can this government explain their actions to the workers of this nation? Bauxite workers seek no favour and ask for no alms. Over the last 18 years what they have been demanding is the respect for their rights and freedoms, only unfortunately in this instance the government is the adjudicator of the labour laws and refuses to effect movement on the BCGI matter, other than promises and dilatory tactics.
How can a government not be accused of snuffing out the economic livelihood of a people who had jobs, go to work, have been working but when they took action consistent with the law in the protection and advancement of their well-being this government sides with a company with which it has a shareholding relationship to fire them?
How can a people and the nation not think that these continuous acts by the government to ignore the calls for justice are not discriminatory, even as matters of similar nature in other industries which happened during the period under review have been given immediate attention and action by the government, which rightly enforces the law in order to ensure that due process is adhered to in dismissal, and where there is a strike, normalcy returns to the workplace and workers are allowed to continue their own and the nation’s development?
Why is a government deliberately putting a people, renowned for their skills and work ethic, on the breadline?
Why is a matter this simple being allowed to fester for more than a year? Why are big men/women, with wives/husbands and children, other responsibilities and aspirations being denied a living or forced to scrounge as the government sits on its laurels and does nothing? This country suffers from a skills exodus, yet the government allows the highly skilled to be un-utilized or under-utilized. Is this fair, just and right?
We have reached a nadir in this country when persons are denied the right to work, not because work isn’t available or they don’t have the requisite skills set, but because the government decides that it will engage in acts to deny them work. Never before in independent Guyana have workers been this targeted. These things are wrong and it is an injustice to the workers and the society as a whole. As Dr Martin Luther King Jr rightly said, “Injustice anywhere poses a threat to justice everywhere.”
While the government remains heartless and cruel, as citizens, we cannot relent because it will be the wrong thing to do. We have to continue to be our brothers’ keepers; speak out, stare down, and challenge the injustices and abuse of our rights, freedoms and resources.
Yours faithfully,
Lincoln Lewis
