ANY administration that appreciates the importance of the people to a nation’s production and productivity would be mindful of ensuring the maintenance of a harmonious labour relations environment. Labour is not the enemy of any government or employer, but labour historically has had to fight to be treated with respect and dignity, and even though the workers’ achievements are enshrined in laws etc, they have to consistently struggle to ensure they are not denied.

Industrial relations is practised and guided by a body of rules, laws, International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions, agreements and time-honoured principles. Those involved in this relation are the trade unions that represent the workers/employees’ interest; management that represents the employer’s interest; and the Labour Ministry– now reduced to a department– that represents the State.  The role of each is clearly defined and though coming from different angles, are mutually bound by the laws etc to work in the interest of the collective.

History has shown that the employer, where not held to account, would treat workers with little or no regard, seeing them as incidental to the process, not the architects and executers of, and should therefore be valued.  This is where the government plays the role of seeking to ensure management and workers’ representatives function consistent with established guidelines. Where government fails to carry out its role, it creates or becomes the enabler of the problem.

In the case of the Labour Department that has responsibility to avert and settle labour disputes, we are witnessing an emphasis on settling disputes and not seeking to avoid them. This dangerous and lopsided approach will foster and facilitate a hostile environment, undermine production and productivity.

The view being enunciated by representatives of the Labour Department that they are the arbiters in the industrial relations system is ill-conceived. The role of this department is that of conciliating in labour matters. The subject minister is the Chief Conciliator, acting on behalf of the Government of Guyana, who has sovereign responsibility to ensure laws, conventions and so forth are being respected.

To confirm that the department has no arbitrary authority, reference is made to the Labour Amendment Act (1983) which gives the minister the authority to refer labour issues to compulsory arbitration.  When protocols such as these are drawn to their attention they become annoyed rather than see the importance of arming themselves with the knowledge and acting accordingly.

Let me draw attention to the specific case of the Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated (BCGI) and the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU) to make the point of the serious problems labour is facing.

Last year government took a decision to return tax-free overtime and premium hours worked to these workers. This benefit was fought for by bauxite workers and their unions in 1988, during the Desmond Hoyte administration, and was extended to the sugar workers. The Bharrat Jagdeo government took away this benefit and kept it in sugar, but GB&GWU never stopped pursuing the fight to have it returned.

Earlier this year the GB&GWU and government signed an agreement to return this benefit which BCGI, at the time, refused to sign, claiming it does not recognise the union, although the Trade Union Recognition Board has certified it as the bargaining unit. When workers last week wrote management issuing an ultimatum, a copy of which was sent to Minister Keith Scott, that they were going to proceed on strike action if the agreement was not honoured by 30th November, it was at this point that the company was prepared to sign the document and put systems in place for the workers to have their benefits.

Instead of the minister accepting that the Labour Department was not strident enough to get BCGI to sign the document, a signature achieved on Wednesday due to the workers’ militancy, he accused the union of wanting the department to do the union’s job. The decision to return the benefit was made by the government and it was the government’s responsibility to have the decision enforced, not the union.

Prudent industrial relations necessitate putting mechanisms in place to avert strikes or other industrial action rather than wait for such to occur and then move to intervene and settle. Had this matter resulted in a strike or go-slow, the Labour Department would have had no one to blame but itself, given that the union had continued to keep it abreast with the company’s refusal to implement the decision over a period of a year. Government over the period never instituted any sanction on management to cause it to act accordingly.

While sovereignty belongs to the people, it is the government that protects, safeguards and ensures it.  In October GB&GWU wrote the BCGI requesting a meeting to discuss three issues, among them is the non-activating of government’s tax-free decision. To date the company has not responded, of which the minister and Labour Department are aware.

The GB&GWU’s concern as expressed at the meeting with the minister on Thursday, 29th November, is that the department meeting with BCGI on Wednesday without the presence of the union, at a time when the workers were preparing for industrial action, gives the impression that the coalition government is concurring with the management to address matters about the workers at the exclusion of their union.

This is tantamount to supporting BCGI’s claim not to treat with the union and fostering a hostile industrial relations climate. It is time the coalition takes note and acts accordingly if it is to be believed that there resides the desire to ensure a stable environment.