By Shauna Jemmott

MINISTER within the Ministry of Natural Resources, Simona Broomes, has sent a stern warning to mining companies which ignore the rights of workers within their employ.
Disrespectful attitude towards workers in particular, she said, will not be tolerated; and sanctions will follow.The minister sounded the warning on Monday during a meeting with workers who were dismissed or sent on indefinite leave by management of Russian bauxite company RUSAL.
Some of the workers were, since 2009, dismissed for speaking out against the violation of their rights, while others were either on leave or on their off-duty day when they learnt of their dismissal.

Five others were dismissed in 2010, after speaking out against the company serving them food prepared using expired grocery, spoilt meat and vegetables. And another four, more particularly excavator operators, were on January 27 sent on indefinite leave without payment after refusing to work long hours in unhealthy conditions.

More than 20 men, along with representatives of the Guyana Trades Unions Congress (GTUC), including General Secretary Lincoln Lewis, were invited to a meeting at the minister’s office after senior Minister Raphael Trotman had instructed Broomes to meet with the group, which had approached his Ministry for help.

The group included several workers who complained bitterly of unsafe working conditions, unfair treatment by the company, and disrespect, among other troubles they face from the bauxite company.

Mr Lewis requested the Ministry to meet with RUSAL and the union, but this will be discussed with Minister Trotman, and Minister Broomes will contact the union on the way forward.

The four excavator operators were sent on indefinite leave for refusing to work on a machine which had a malfunctioning air conditioning (AC) unit and other defects.

“They were asked to work and to operate equipment that had problems, and they didn’t have AC, and they had to work in those conditions for over 12. The doors cannot be closed because there was no AC, and (there was much) dust (blowing about the place) and some workers already had problems with their eyes; and so they were asked to work in an unsafe environment.
And because they objected, they received a letter that they are suspended, and (the suspension) was indefinite,” the Minister related.

Guyana Chronicle saw one of the letters bearing the RUSAL letterhead and signed by its PHSE Manager Igor Tolpykin. It was addressed to Rawle Bobb and states, “being one of the operators who refused to operate excavator #735 because you said it had defects and no operable AC Unit in the cab…because of repeated reluctance by you and the two others, also concerns raised about your health, management has acceded to your fear and decided to let you remain off the job without pay until further notice”.

The letter also states that a meeting was held between the company and workers after workers had complained of the unhealthy working conditions, and management had asked them to work under the very conditions until they were able to fix the excavators, but the workers refused.

IN TEARS
After seeing the tears of the adult men and hearing their stories, the Minister said she will stand only for the laws of Guyana in executing the duties of her office, and vowed to work together with workers in the mining industry to ensure that their rights are being respected.

She said many complaints have reached her, and the perpetrators are a particular set of people with a common support base.

“When you got people out there who hurting from since 2009…men don’t cry that easily, and men still in tears about what transpired,” a provoked Broomes said, “Guyanese people would have to forgive me! I could never be somebody to embrace injustice. Never!”

She added: “And that’s why, as a minister, I am going to stand upon the fundamentals of rights! If I am going to be a minister for now till the next year, 10 years or 20 years, I could never change that position. I think the only reason I am here is because of those people out there, and if you vote me and you have the confidence in me, I must stand by those principles. First, (I need) to understand what (are) the rights of those people. I could never shift from those fundamentals. It is one set of people and they’re being allowed. But I’m going to put them on notice today, to say to many of them, if they tell themselves they had the back of Broomes, they gon just be greeted with the front!”

The Ministry of Natural Resources, Broomes declared, will not let the matter rest until the legal rights of the employees are addressed. The minister said she is pleased that workers are standing up for their rights.

“After 20-something years,however, I’m still happy to see now that we have workers who are standing up to say that this is not a safe condition for me to work under and I will not work under that. I’m disappointed, however, that we still have companies who, because a worker understands his rights, using their authority and their power to send them home. I think that is a dangerous sign. We will not condone those, because it’s a sign to the other workers, meaning to say, ‘shut up! Work however, whenever, and you be quiet’, and that is sad. It will not be encouraged,” Broomes stressed.

She said the Government is pleased to have investors, and welcomes them; but, at the same time, those investors must uphold the laws of Guyana.