HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon, on Thursday, described the protests of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) as “industrial unrest”, while noting that the actions of the workers in staying away from work are “unpalatable” to the administration. 

Luncheon, who is also Cabinet Secretary, was speaking about the issue at his usual post-Cabinet news conference at Office of the President in Georgetown.

This, the first important industrial event of 2015, attracted Cabinet’s attention this week, Luncheon reported. “Cabinet’s concern, essentially, was whether there was some justification for the continued industrial unrest,” he said, adding that this “led Cabinet to try to gain an understanding of what was the beef; what was the issue that caused the workers to be out on strike?”

He explained that sometime in the past, a consultant made recommendations about changes at the GGMC. The ‘unbelievable’ contention by the workers is that they are protesting because the implementation of the recommendations of the consultant was not being honoured by the management of GGMC and essentially by the administration.

“This, it seems, is the basis for the continued industrial unrest. One can quite understand the reactions of Cabinet…the notion that there can be an industrial unrest issue on the implementation of the recommendations, frankly speaking, is a bit difficult for the Cabinet to contemplate, to swallow,” Dr Luncheon said.

The Ministry of Labour, in its intervention, has sought to have the industrial unrest end so that even this “unusual contention” can be discussed. Luncheon referred to this as an extremely conventional approach.

“No one negotiates under duress. Return to work and as silly, as absurd as the issue is, let’s discuss it. You want to implement the recommendations? Return to work, let’s talk about it. Of course, the fact that the strike continues is an indication that the workers feel entrenched for whatever reason, that until such time as the recommendations are implemented, we are not returning to work. I can tell you, a position that is clearly unpalatable to the administration.”

Meanwhile, the GGMC, in a press statement issued earlier this week, stated that the Commission considers the strike to be illegal as negotiations were ongoing between the two parties. The Commission reiterated the need for the parties to abide by the standing agreement between the GPSU and the Commission for the recognition, avoidance and settlement of disputes.
The statement pointed out that the agreement between that Union and the Commission clearly identifies the steps to be taken to resolve the current issues.
Deviations from these enshrined protocols can be construed as acts of bad faith, more so given that discussions and engagements were ongoing between the Union and the Commission.