Labour Department to verify payments to RUSAL/BCGI workers
GBGWU President, Lincoln Lewis
GBGWU President, Lincoln Lewis

THE Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated (BCGI) has claimed that it has already paid terminated workers, including all their benefits.

The Department of Labour (DoL) will be writing the company for a spreadsheet of the breakdown of the payments to independently verify that the amounts paid are what they are supposed to be.

The Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GBGWU), however, maintains, notwithstanding the termination, the issue of wages and salaries still remains to be addressed, regarding retroactive payment to the workers.

This was the latest update coming out a meeting held last Wednesday, between representatives from the company and the union at the DoL Brickdam Office. Representing the company at the meeting were BCGI Managing Director, Gennadii Derevyanko, and Executive, Vladimir Permyakov.

Outside of a call for documentation to verify monies paid over to the workers, the department continued its push for the reinstatement of the 326 employees terminated, who were fired without notice.

In Guyana, the law requires employers to give employees two weeks to one months’ notice before they are terminated; in lieu of this notice, the employer is mandated to pay the employees one month’s salary.

“We inquired whether they were paid their severance and other benefits; we were advised that all outstanding benefits were paid over to the workers, that is, one month’s notice, all severance and annual leave. They are to submit to us the breakdown so that we can calculate and verify that the terminal benefits are accurate,” Chief Labour Officer, Charles Ogle, informed at a media briefing after the meeting.

NOT MUCH ACCOMPLISHED

The blockage across a section of the Berbice River at Ladernsville

Outside of the meeting, GBGWU General-Secretary, Lincoln Lewis, believed the meeting did not accomplish much.

“We are still far away, very far away. The matter we came here to discuss is the matter it seems no one wants to put on the table. I’m talking about negotiations; they’re talking about the unblocking of the river. This issue is not about the blockage of the river, this issue is the violation of the Collective Labour Agreement, violation of the Laws of Guyana,” an impassioned Lewis conveyed.

A subsidiary of Russian aluminum giant RUSAL, BCGI, has been re-engaging the attention of the DoL since last month when they laid off 142 workers on January 23, then another 146 on January 30. On February 2, RUSAL officially announced that it had terminated 326 workers and was suspending its Guyana operations in Upper Demerara-Upper Kwakwani.
Following the firing of the 142 workers, some workers blocked a point of the Berbice River, effectively blocking the company from transporting bauxite and materials from its Kurubuka mines.

On exiting the meeting, the company’s representatives declined to comment.
However, Ogle related that at the meeting, they once again called for the unblocking of the river, with the possibility of restarting operations at their Kurubuka Mines in Region 10.

POSITIVE SIGN
“They cannot make the decision; they said they have to consult with their superiors in Russia as to the proposals put forward to them. As a sign of good will, the management has said that if the union would [encourage workers to unblock the river] they will consider re-employing,” Ogle informed.

However, with severance and other benefits paid, there is no guarantee the unionised workers will be re-employed by the company. Even with re-employment, they will be entering the company as new employees.

The workers are remaining steadfast in their fight for what they believe is right.
“We will agree, as a union, to facilitate, the process in having the river unblocked but a number of things have to be satisfied. Negotiations is not you get everything and walk away. You have to address these things. When they’ve finished discussing [salaries and wages] there will have to be retroactivity. As such, the people who were sent home, on termination, their terminal benefit will have to be adjusted right away, nobody wants to talk about that,” Lewis said.

The union and the company have spent the past year trying to agree on a new CLA, inclusive of an agreement on increases in wage and salaries for workers. In August 2019, the union asked for the wages and salaries negotiations to be dealt with separately.
The negotiations hit an impasse when the company made a final offer of a six per cent increase and the union called for a minimum of eight per cent, to rectify what they said is a disparity between what workers at BCGI are being paid, against what equivalent workers at other bauxite companies in Guyana are offered.

On August 24, the union wrote the DoL asking for the commencement of conciliation, the next step in collective labour bargaining. The union has since been asking for the conciliation to be declared deadlocked and for the discussions to move to arbitration.
A process whereby an independent tribunal makes a decision on the matter and both sides are bound to the decision.

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