DEMERARA Timbers Limited (DTL) has fired three more of its employees for picketing while several others were handed warning letters at its Mabura Hill location.

Last Tuesday the logging company had issued eight of its workers with dismissal letters for participating in a picketing exercise the day before in front of its Kingston, Georgetown Head Office – a move which has received widespread criticisms from the trades union fraternity.

But despite this objection, DTL on Thursday handed three more employees dismissal letters. Those sent home were Malcolm Smith, Walter Downes, and Morty Abrams.

In response to the firing of the first eight, several workers, including those currently on staff had staged a one-day protest at the Mabura Hill, Region 10 location in solidarity. Now they too, have been issued with warning letters by management of DTL.

Anita Croft, one of the sacked workers, told the Guyana Chronicle on Saturday that they were all paid on Friday, but have not begun to remove their belongings from the houses that were provided by DTL. In the dismissal letter, the aggrieved workers were instructed to remove themselves from the company’s concession.

General Secretary of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), Seepaul Narine, told this newspaper that a meeting has been set to discuss this burning issue.

On Tuesday at 13:30hrs, DTL is expected to meet with officials from the Ministry of Social Protection, Department of Labour, along with representatives from GAWU and aggrieved workers.

In a strongly worded statement, GAWU said that it was the first time in history that an entity, private or public, had taken a decision of such an incredulous nature.

“The decision by the company must be seen as yet another anti-worker and anti-union act, which is occurring rather frequently these days,” GAWU stated.

It was pointed out that the logging company has acted in contravention of Section Eight of the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act, which prohibits the dismissal of workers for their participation in industrial action. This right is further reinforced by the Constitution, which provides the right for workers to engage in strikes and protest action.

“The company’s high-handed, illegal and ominous act represents a decision which must be roundly condemned by all right-thinking Guyanese. It is a clear attempt to intimidate the workers and use extra-legal measures to deny workers their just claims for pay increases,” the union added.

The workers have been calling on the company to engage in good-faith negotiations with the GAWU.
Their rates of pay have not increased since 2014 after negotiations between the union and the company for 2015 reached a stalemate.

Bilateral negotiations between the union and the company reached a stalemate on November 17, 2015, after DTL did not approve any pay increases, but offered a Christmas bonus of $5,000 to each worker. DTL had told workers that its financial state had prevented it from offering an increase.

But this decision was rejected by the workers.

Following the impasse, the dispute was next subjected to conciliation by the Ministry of

Social Protection, Department of Labour. On several occasions, DTL reportedly refused to attend meetings summoned by the conciliator, Francis Carryl. This led to the involvement of Minister Keith Scott of the Ministry of Social Protection, who wrote the company mandating them to meet with the union and the ministry. Though a few meetings were held, the company remains unmoved and is unwilling to divulge its financial statements for scrutiny by the parties.