A COMPROMISE is yet to be reached between BOSAI Minerals Company and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) on the rates used to calculate wages for workers employed by the bauxite company.At a meeting held at the Ministry of Social Protection on Tuesday, Minister within the Ministry Simona Broomes summoned the mineral company to produce a spreadsheet containing the names, designations, hourly rates and overtime rates of each worker.
The union and the ministry are of the belief that the company is shortchanging workers who are mandated by law to work eight hours a day, 40 hours per week, because the formula used by the company is not compliant with the regulations.
AGREEMENT
In August, BOSAI and its workers came to an agreement that workers will stay on the job and work eight instead of 12 hours to prevent retrenchment.
“I have been advised that it is a practice of BOSAI to demonstrate what they think is fit as against what is law,” said Minister Broomes. She explained that Deputy Chief Labour Officer Nadia Samuels made recommendations on the issue of rates calculation, but those recommendations were rejected by BOSAI.
The minister explained that BOSAI is calculating the rates of employees in a manner that is not consistent with the regulations. “Speculations are there as to the reason why BOSAI, in their calculation, is sticking to the calculation at 365 days… The workers maintain that they are being shortchanged.”
Samuels said the ministry examined some 16 complaints before it by BOSAI workers, and on September 17 made recommendations to the company on the way forward with respect to the calculation of hourly rates.
She said a letter was sent to NAACIE General Secretary Kenneth Joseph and the company’s Senior Personnel Officer Trudel Marks, informing them of the unresolved issues and the option of exploring stage four in the grievance procedure which speaks to arbitration.
“Subsequent to that… we still had complaints coming in as it relates to the calculation of rates. It remains unresolved. I believe the company’s position is that they will not accept the calculations that we are putting forward,” said the Deputy Chief Labour Officer.
Samuels explained that the recommendation put forward by her ministry was based on calculations used across the board in industries.
NOT AN OPTION
Minister Broomes stressed that legal compliance is not optional. She said, “The law is very straightforward” on the issue.
But Bosai’s personnel officer said the company has three shifts that last eight hours, 10 hours and 12 hours respectively. “The computation of our salaries are based on these hours. Your recommended calculations is not to say it is wrong; we say it is not applicable to our situation, because we take into consideration that after eight hours, it demands overtime.”
Employees who have been promoted from hourly wages to weekly or monthly wages are dealt with differently, Marks said. “When we try to calculate the employees moving from hourly to monthly, we take all of those things into consideration and we come up with the salary.”
But the minister made it clear that all workers are required to work eight hours a day, and that anything over eight hours constitutes overtime. “You cannot calculate Saturday, Sunday and holidays into one’s salary; you are shortchanging them,” she said.
Consultant to the Ministry of Social Protection Francis Carryl added that no other company is using the formula being used by BOSAI. “This is not rocket science,” the consultant added, noting that the formula is inaccurate and must be corrected.

NO ‘SHAFTING’
Major-General (ret’d) Norman McLean, who serves as Company Secretary to BOSAI, sought to justify the company’s calculation methods. “We haven’t just come up with this; a lot of this has been inherited. This is how the shifts work. We normally work 24/7, this is how the shift works and this is why we have eight, 10 and 12- hour shifts based on area of work. We are not out to shaft or deny employees whatever is their due. A lot of these are things [were] inherited from Linmine, and OMAI,” Mc Lean added.
He assured Minister Broomes and her team of labour officers that BOSAI is willing to “sit and trash out” any misinterpretation that may have arisen.
But Minister Broomes held firm. She said like Bosai, the APNU+AFC government inherited many things but maintained that the law must be followed. “As a new government, we inherited a host of things but the law says eight hours.”
The minister stressed that each company operating locally must be compliant with the laws. “It is not an attack…the law is before us to guide us,” she said.
It was then that BOSAI’s personnel were called out on what appeared to be a misrepresentation of the facts by both NAACIE General Secretary Kenneth Joseph and Minister Broomes. Joseph said attempts were made by the union to have the issue of calculation of rates resolved, but to no avail. Asked by the minister about the company representative who indicated that BOSAI would not be changing the calculations, Joseph pointed to Marks.
Broomes then upbraided Marks and requested that the company produce records to show they are complying with what is required. Those records are to be submitted to the Ministry of Social Protection today. “We are going to kill this problem; it is not a big one. What is written in law has to happen; we are not going to argue and dance that around,” the minister said.

DISRESPECTFUL
A letter was issued to BOSAI on July 15 this year by the ministry, but was not acknowledged by the company. Broomes said, “A letter was sent…you did not respond…it is disrespectful and this disrespect must stop forthwith.”
Upset over the manner in which her ministry and staff were treated, Broomes said such disrespect would not be tolerated. Marks attempted to apologise to the minister who was not quite receptive. The minister felt that the explanation was not one that justified the action of the company. According to Marks, the company’s general manager Robert Shang was out of country and so an acknowledgement letter could not be issued.
There are several other labour issues related to BOSAI and its operations that are before the Ministry of Social Protection.
NAACIE General Secretary Joseph said his union is “happy” that the company is making an effort to have the issue of calculation of rates for workers employed at BOSAI resolved.

By Ariana Gordon