What Guyana Trades Union Congress General Secretary Lincoln Lewis has described as “probably the most serious engagement between government and the labour movement under the APNU+AFC administration”, on Wednesday may well have paved the way for “more meaningful and constructive discussions on issues pertaining to some key issues including the extractive sector, the environment and welfare, the veteran trade unionist told Stabroek Business.
Up to early Wednesday evening, Lewis had said that the details of the meeting and its outcomes were still being fashioned into an agreed joint media release between Trotman and the delegation of senior trade union officials though Lewis told this newspaper that he was prepared to say that the meeting was ‘pleasing and cordial” and that he believed that it was “a satisfying enough start to a discourse that could be continued in the period ahead”.
Lewis, meanwhile, revealed to Stabroek Business that prior to Wednesday’s meeting he had received communication from Trotman to the effect that a new contract between the Government of Guyana would be completed by September 30. The Stabroek News had earlier reported that Barama had attributed its recent retrenchment of 180 workers to a significant slowdown in the international market for its products as well as the delay on the part of the government in settling the renewal of its contract with the company.
Lewis apart, the delegation that met with Trotman on Wednesday included GTUC President Leslie Gonsalves and Vice President Norris Witter.
Government and the labour movement will now still have to grasp the nettle of almost 200 new job losses with more workers likely to be sent off if the situation with regard to the global market for Barama’s products worsens. Lewis told Stabroek Business that the recent job losses at Barama were “a matter of serious concern to the GTUC at a time where there does not appear to be any obvious openings for those numbers of people.”
Meanwhile, Lewis said that the meeting with Trotman took place against the backdrop of mounting concerns in the labour movement over the welfare of workers in the extractive sector. “It is of course unnecessary for me to repeat the GTUC’s position on the treatment of the workers at the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. by the Russian RUSAL managers as well as their disregard for the union. Up until now we do not believe that the government was stern enough about pressing BCGI to respect workers’ rights. We wanted the subject Minister to be aware of that.
Lewis said he believed that the imminent emergence of an oil and gas sector as well as the increasing expansion of the gold-mining sector as a “significant player” in the Guyana economy raised critical questions regarding the treatment of workers and care for the environment. “Frankly, we felt that the transformations in the economy of the country and the new emphases that will arise out of those transformations render it necessary for trade unions to play a more pivotal role in overseeing workers’ interests”, he said.
