IT’S NOT often that the actions of companies in Guyana take me by surprise. After all, this is a country in which companies such as Bosai and the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc., to name a few, have committed, and continue to commit in many regards, gross human rights’ violations; but never before in the history of Guyana has any business entity fired workers for taking protest actions against the company in which they are employed.

I do not know much about Demerara Timbers Limited (DTL), but from what I have gathered from others, they are allegedly no strangers to human rights’ violations here. Throughout the years, they have come up on the radar of the various ministries, but apparently DTL are a power unto themselves, and will continue to commit infraction after infraction without any serious involvement or condemnation from relevant ministries.

I imagine that DTL, in their long run of unethical happenings, have somehow, over the years, redefined the meaning of the word “unlawful.” Workers were told that “as a result of the strike action taken” by them, “unlawfully and without prior notice to the company,” their services were no longer required.

Eight workers, some of whom have worked at the company for more than a decade, are each now out of a job because they dared to stand in peaceful protestation against the oppressive machinery that is DTL. Since then, according to media reports, three more workers involved in protest action have been handed their dismissal letters.

My questions are: Why is this allowed to happen? Why is a company allowed to blatantly ignore workers’ rights to engage in strike and protest actions, which are backed not only by Section 8 of the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act, but also by the Constitution?

I might have missed it, but I have heard nothing from the Ministry of Social Protection, under which the Department of Labour falls. Hopefully, they are working to reinstate the workers and issue heavy sanctions against DTL, because this level of worker intimidation and anti-union action should be nipped in the bud before the workers’ right to stand for their rights is further violated.

One may ask why a company would even want to fire workers for protesting, but DTL’s action is, of course, very clear that they do not want to raise their workers’ pay, and deem it much easier to fire them instead, regardless of the illegality of that firing.

With no increase since 2014, and failing to approve any increase in wages last year, DTL decided to hand out a disrespectful $5000 as a Christmas bonus in an economy in which $5000 does not mean much. What this shows us is that DTL are not only disrespectful to the TESPA and the Constitution, but also have no consideration for the workers.

While it was reported that there was a large protest action following the dismissal of the workers from DTL, there is the high likelihood that DTL’s attempt to terrorise their workers into silence would be successful, as the likelihood of repeated protest actions from other workers would be miniscule.

It appears as though, in the world of DTL, compliant workers would be rewarded by keeping their same underpaid and taxing jobs, while those who dare to challenge the status quo would be unconstitutionally dismissed; and it causes one to wonder whether freedom really is just a façade.

Unless DTL’s thuggish behaviour is continuously challenged, they will continue to commit gross injustices against their workers, and this is unacceptable. No company should be allowed to infringe upon workers’ rights; but apparently here in Guyana, the more oppressive you are, the more you are allowed to get away with.