–leaving barricade to whims and fancies of disenchanted BCGI employees
THE police that were stationed at Ladernsville, where workers of the Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated (BCGI) are vigilantly guarding a blockade across the Berbice River, are said to have been removed from the area.
Workers report that while the police continue to visit from time to time, they are steadfast in their demand that the company either decides to negotiate with their Union or leave the country. BCGI is a subsidiary of Russian aluminum giant, RUSAL.
The workers are maintaining the barricade across the river so as to prevent the company from removing any more equipment or materials from its Kurubuka Mines.
“Desperate situations call for desperate measures, and our measure will remain in place until they either decide to change their attitude and come to the table effortlessly, or they go their way. We don’t intend to have them around any longer,” Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GBGWU) Secretary, Leslie Junor told the Guyana Chronicle.
The workers have been blocking the river since the company laid off 142 of them on January 23. The company has since officially fired 326 more of its employees, and suspended its operations altogether. Nonetheless the company continues to lobby for the unblocking of the river.
Last Thursday, the workers clashed with residents when they tried to remove the barricade. The workers, with the support of residents in surrounding communities, are vigilantly guarding the blockade.
“We are maintaining our positions, and it will remain so until there is positive results,” Junor said, adding: “So far, we are satisfied with the way things are going. Efforts are being made. People have recognized how far RUSAL has pushed their workers to cause this to happen at this moment.”
The employees believe the company simply wants the river unblocked so it can remove its remaining machinery and bauxite at the mines. Last week the company shipped a number of machines out of Guyana, according to reports from the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).
Junor said that the company has, over the years, been disrespectful and very dishonest to workers.
“We are tired of them just breaching the laws, exploiting workers, not honouring timed documents,” he said. “They just do things to get persons to produce, and when they are finished, they lay you off. It’s like they’re treating us like dogs. When you have food, you call us; when you don’t have food you chase us,” he added.
RUSAL, through BCGI, began operating in Guyana in 2004. However, relations with its Guyanese employees first became contentious in 2009, when over 50 workers were fired. To this day, employees consider that situation still unresolved.
That year, the company also stopped recognising and negotiating with the Union. Recognition was restored in 2019, as part of a resumption agreement, following four weeks of strike action by employees.
Since then, the company and the employees Union have still been at loggerheads over agreements on salary increases.
Notwithstanding the workers being fired, GBGWU General Secretary Lincoln Lewis says a salary agreement still needs to be arrived at and paid retroactively, which would see changes needing to be made to the severance and other benefit payments made to workers.
“I believe that the Authority are clear in their mind as to what the workers are about. More so, they are conscious that this is a matter of national character that borders on the raping of our national sovereignty,” Lewis said.
