The WPA in a news release also contended that the strike has “grave implications for the entire trade union movement in Guyana” because if BCGI is allowed to get away with its actions against the union representing the workers in Berbice, the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU), “it will drive the final nail in the coffin of what remains of organized labour in Guyana.”
The ongoing dispute between the GB&GWU and management of BCGI intensified Wednesday, 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”.
The WPA in its release condemned the decision by General Manager Kostyuk to terminate the collective bargaining agreement into which it had entered with GB&GWU.
The WPA stated that coming at a time when workers employed by the company have taken industrial action and their representatives are locked in negotiations with the company at the Ministry of Labour, “the company’s actions, if nothing else, are highhanded and demonstrate grave disrespect for the laws of Guyana and the constitutionally protected right of workers to take action in defense of their own interest.”
The company’s action, the WPA charged, is only the latest in a “series of unconscionable acts against its employees,” adding that for a number of years workers employed by BCGI have had “to endure intolerable and abusive treatment at the hands of officials of the company.”
And according to the party, their appeals to government for redress have been routinely ignored.
The WPA said further that government is aware that conditions at BCGI are abominable but, to all appearances, it is disposed to ignore the threats posed to the safety of the workers by not insisting that the company remedy “widespread and dangerous deficiencies in its operations.”
In the WPA’s view, BCGI seems to have been emboldened by government’s initial response to the strike action taken by the workers. “It is very clear that its officials interpreted government’s dispatch of soldiers and policemen to the area as a sign of support and encouraged them to harden their position against the workers’ legitimate demands,” the WPA argued.
The WPA is also urging the government, which the party noted had once grandly boasted of being the ‘vanguard of the working class’, to recognize that it has “both a moral and legal duty to protect workers’ legitimate interests against the exploitative behaviour of local and foreign employers.”
The PNCR said that at “all material times, RUSAL has been threatening the Union, to close down its operations, and that the Union would have to bear responsibility for any such eventuality. RUSAL has shown a propensity to confront the workers and their representatives rather than to engage them.”
It noted that by letter, dated the 1 December 2009, RUSAL arbitrarily purported to unilaterally and in breach of the C.L.A., Laws of Guyana, terminate the C.L.A.
The PNCR argued that there is no provision in the C.L.A. for termination of it by either party in the manner, adopted by RUSAL.
“RUSAL cannot by itself derecognise the G.B.& G.W.U, since recognition or non-recognition is in the province of the Trade Union Recognition and Certification Board established under the Trade Union Recognition act No. 33 of 1997.
“The PNCR, therefore, calls on RUSAL and the PPP/C Government to honour the C.L.A. and the laws of Guyana and to adopt proper industrial relations practices, and to reinstate the dismissed workers. We encourage the workers to resolutely pursue their just struggle in solidarity. “
