After 26 days of industrial action by workers, the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. (BCGI) yesterday finally met with the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU) at a conciliation meeting and the two sides have agreed to a bilateral engagement to resolve their current dispute.
This was revealed by head of the GB&GWU Lincoln Lewis yesterday morning at the Department of Labour on Brickdam, in Georgetown, where the meeting took place. Despite the breakthrough after an almost month-long impasse between the two sides, it was made clear that the strike by workers remains ongoing, including the obstruction of the Berbice River.
The RUSAL-owned company had been refusing to recognise the union as the workers’ bargaining agent and RUSAL representative Vladimir Permyakov and BCGI Personnel Officer Mikhail Krupenin had even refused to meet with Lewis and the Union after the strike started on February 15th.
