– US-based group misinformed
Labour Minister Manzoor Nadir insists that neither he nor the government is engaged in any form of union busting or in the denial of workers’ rights as it relates to the continuing dispute be-tween the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU) and the Rusal subsidiary the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc.
Facing increased international scrutiny over his handling of the impasse which has dragged on since November, Nadir, in full page advertisements placed last week in all four of the nation’s dailies, argued that there were several misconceptions about the dispute. The minister was at the time specifically addressing the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 1199, United Healthcare Workers East, which had written to him, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon and President Bharrat Jagdeo on the issue. The body said that it would consider initiating or supporting proceedings at the ILO against the government as well as urge the United States to take punitive actions against the government if the matters are not resolved. The organisation accused the BCGI of acting in contravention of the International Labour Conventions and accused the government of facilitating this.
The organisation’s letter, in the form of a resolution noted its awareness “of the pattern of union busting and workers’ abuse in Guyana”, including the violation of rights of public sector employees and their union and demanded that the government of Guyana comply with international law. It also called on the government to end its “discrimination” against the GB&GWU and that it discontinue its decertification effort, and take immediate action to reinstate the affected workers and award them their lawful wages.
The Labour Minister, in the advertisement, accused the US-based union of being ignorant of the country’s labour laws and the industrial relations environment in the matter, while saying that the conclusions by the union were made without any investigations. “Like the few similar correspondences we have received from other groups, the Government of Guyana finds your letter to be ill informed and blindly following (a principle of trade union solidarity) the one-sided arguments of the executive of the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union”.
In the advertisement Nadir traced the disputes between the bauxite company and the union and the interventions undertaken by the Labour Ministry. He also pointed to negotiations between the company and the union in November where the BCGI made three offers to the union. Nadir pointed out too that the GB&GWU during its deliberations with the bauxite company had agreed to a 10 percent retroactive pay hike and the retrenchment of 75 workers. The minister said that the union later changed its position.
The minister said too that on December 1 last year, the bauxite company communicated to his ministry that it no longer recognized the Collective Labour Agreement (CLA) as valid since on several occasions the union had taken actions outside the agreement, thus repudiating it. Nadir said that the government indicated that the union was the legitimate bargaining unit for the workers.
Meanwhile, Nadir said that over 121 workers had petitioned the independent Trade Union Recognition and Certification Board (TUR& CB) asking for the GB&GWU to be decertified. “This matter is outside of the purview of the government,” Nadir said while noting that the body comprised three members from the employers’ group, three members from the labour movement and an independent chairman.
He said the TUR&CB has been addressing the matter for five months. “I have been told that it is not unreasonable for such matters to take as much as nine to 12 months in many jurisdictions,” the minister said.
“The government has stated publicly and continues to urge both parties to meet and discuss the issues at hand with a view to bringing closure to them. The ministry reaffirmed to the company that GB&GWU was the recognized union for the bargaining unit and that while the company was challenging the CLA, the company could not denounce or renounce the union.” Nadir said that in exercising his responsibilities, he needed to have regard for all the workers: “those who applied for de-recognition, those who are on the job and not on strike, those who feel they are wrongfully dismissed and those who are in the leadership of the recognised union”.
Meanwhile, Nadir called on the 1199SEIU-United Health Care Workers to publish the information it was provided with by the GB&GWU which prompted the organisation to write to the Guyana government.
