IN recent years there has been a heavy influx of Brazilian businessmen to Guyana and no doubt this has been due to the increasingly favourable investment climate here, as the government has been very pro-active in the implementation of regulations and systems to make it easier for investors to do business.

The Brazilians have been investing mainly in the mining and commercial sectors. As such, they would have become employers.
It is then imperative that they are fully au fait with the labour laws and regulations of Guyana. But many of them are not very conversant with the English Language and therefore would find it difficult to understand these laws and regulations. It is against this backdrop that the translation of the Labour Laws into Portuguese is an extremely fine and pertinent gesture by the Ministry of Labour.
With an increasingly liberalised and globalised world, a mixture of employers and employees with different languages and culture is becoming more  common and this could give rise to conflicts if measures, such as that undertaken by the Labour Ministry with respect to Brazilian businessmen, are not taken.

The documents translated by the Labour Ministry address provisions of the Holidays with Pay Act (1995), the Minimum Wage Orders, the Conditions of Employment Act (1978) and the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act (1997). Several documents relevant to these laws and Occupational Safety and Health were also presented to the Brazilians after being translated.
Labour Minister, Dr Nanda Gopaul offered: “We are confident this will eliminate some of the problems we have had in the past.”
He also correctly pointed out that industrial relations is a two way street and workers are equally obligated to comply with the laws, especially as it relates to occupational health and safety practices.
“It is often felt that employees have rights. Equally, employers have rights and you should demand that workers observe and honour their conditions of employment,” he asserted.
Accepting the translated documents, Mr. Antonio Szale of the Brazilian Mining and General Association noted that about eighty percent of the Brazilian population in Guyana experience some level of language barrier and these translated documents will help to reduce this. He indicated that the Association has been working with the ministry and other stakeholders to create an audio visual version of the translated documents so that literacy would not be another barrier.
Perhaps the Labour Ministry should now consider moving a next step forward by translating documents pertaining to our diversified culture and religions because failing to understand and appreciate this important aspect of our society could also be another source of conflict between Brazilian employers and Guyanese workers.
In addition, consideration should also be given to doing a similar translation of labour documents for Chinese employers because in recent years there have been an increasing influx of Chinese businessmen to this country, particularly in the commercial sector.