Local regulatory and enforcement bodies must fashion “a collective strategy” to ensure that the country’s environmental and workplace safety laws are efficiently and effectively enforced ahead of the anticipated arrival here of greater numbers of foreign investors seeking to do business with the country in areas related to the country’s emerging oil and gas sector, General Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), Lincoln Lewis has told the Stabroek Business.
In the second part of an extended recent interview, Lewis said that he was concerned that “the enforcement mechanisms for guarding against environmental transgressions and the health and safety of workers might not be strong enough to protect ourselves once we find ourselves with greater numbers of entities wishing to do business with Guyana.” And according to Lewis’ experience, “the behaviour of foreign companies already working in Guyana ought to serve as a signal that we cannot assume that some of those who are still to come will not seek to go down the same road. Our laws, our institutions and our enforcement capabilities must be ready to deal with that,” Lewis told the Stabroek Business.
Meanwhile, the GTUC General Secretary told this newspaper that while the emphasis being placed on the local content dimension to the emergence of oil and gas-related enterprises in Guyana was “entirely understandable,” he was concerned that that private sector pursuit of business opportunities associated with oil and gas-related investments do not create a situation in which “environmental concerns and workers safety get pushed to one side in pursuit of what might be considered to be lucrative business deals.”
Alluding to the recent decision to halt to the construction of a US-owned firm’s chemical storage facility in a residential area, prompted in part by concerns over likely health threats to residents, Lewis said that those are just the kinds of developments that, as a country, Guyana must be ready to respond to in the period ahead. “What is evidently required are clearly defined procedures for foreign private sector companies, either alone or in tandem with local businesses, to undertake such projects as might have environmental and safety and health implications,” Lewis added.
And cautioning the authorities against the dangers of “beginning from a position of self-delusion,” Lewis told Stabroek Business that he believed that it was likely that some investors, “either alone or in tandem with local entities, “might be tempted to begin from a position of putting profits first.” He said that by this he meant that there was a need for the law enforcement entities to be on guard against investments that may “cut across” environmental laws. “That is why I am calling for consultative sessions involving the Labour Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, the various private sector bodies and the trade union movement to ensure that we are all on the same page as far as these important issues are concerned.”
Asked whether he was concerned over likely institutional weaknesses at all levels, including the Labour Department, the private sector and the trade union movement, Lewis said that “speaking for the trade union movement I would say, yes, there are weaknesses there. There is a need for union representatives to be trained to respond in the correct manner and effectively to workplace concern including those that have environmental and workers’ safety Implications. There is, however, “another dimension to this,” according to Lewis. “The fact of the matter is that by and large, the Guyana experience has, to a large extent been, that worker unionization has not been popular with expatriate companies. Perhaps more to the point one cannot say that over time, government has exactly been going out of its way to ensure that these companies are clear on the legitimacy of trade unions and the freedom of association concept that is inherent in being unionized. In my opinion it is up to government to do more to lay down the law. I believe that being members of trade unions provide workers with a protective mechanism which allows them to help protect themselves, their communities and their country from some of the environmental degradation that would occur as a result of workplace practices if they are there empowered to provide effective responses.”
And asked whether there might not be concerns that his cautionary position on foreign companies and likely environmental and workplace safety transgressions might not deter foreign investors, Lewis told the Stabroek Business that it would be “unfortunate” if what he had to say gives rise to that reaction. “What is interesting is that those developed countries from which these investors are coming have even more stringent laws and regulations than we have to protect themselves and their workers against workplace-related risks. Why should they not expect us to do the same thing? I have already said that experience has taught us that some foreign companies are almost certain to try to cut corners, to take advantage of weak enforcement mechanisms and if one is to be frank about it we cannot rule out the likelihood of the temptation of local partners to go along with them. I can tell you this because I know for a fact that there are, as we speak, majority foreign-owned companies in Guyana who are riding roughshod over workplace safety and environmental laws and nothing is being done about it,” Lewis added.
