–wants to bargain on workers’ behalf

A NEW labour union is stepping onto the workers’ representation scene, and has its sights firmly set on the emerging oil sector. The Guyana Natural Resources, Clerical and General Workers Union (GNRC&GWU) was legally certified to represent, and bargain for workers in the mining field last year, and is already making waves within the sector.

According to its founder and General Secretary, Micah Williams, GNRC&GWU is geared toward the proper representation of workers, as well as creating an enabling environment for improving their welfare. The new union has taken the place of the almost eight-year-old People’s United and General Workers Union (PU&GWU).
The PU&GWU was formed in 2011, and has a membership of over 500 persons, all of whom will now be represented by the GNRC&GWU after the formality of signing them over would have been completed.
These members at reference include workers from the bauxite companies Oldendorff Company Guyana Inc (OCGI), and Troy Resources Inc.

GNRC&GWU has also extended its invitation to attract membership from Guyana Goldfields Inc. and Bosai Minerals Group (Guyana) Inc.
“We have already started to sign up the workers at Goldfields and Bosai,” Williams told the Guyana Chronicle, adding that the union expects to represent more than 800 workers from those two companies; some 500 from Goldfields and 400 from Troy Resources.
To obtain their registration and bargaining certificates, the union would have had to obtain support from 40 per cent of the workforce before the trade union board could have issued the documents.
Williams said the union continues to make good progress as already, over 200 persons from both companies have signed on in less than three months.
He noted that the GNRC&GWU will be going after the oil and gas sector next to ensure adequate representation for workers in that field.

Asked what makes the union different from existing bodies,Williams said, “We are an honest union, and we work strongly with the workers. We don’t behave like other unions where you go and sign on to something without the approval or opinions of the workers.
“We believe that workers are the assets in the union; without them we have no power, and we cannot function.”
Williams said the union has a clean history of operating in a “transparent and vibrant manner”. He said that unlike other unions, the PU&GWU has never worked without the consent of its membership, and neither will the GNRC&GWU.
He asserted that members can expect the same dedication and commitment from the GNRC&GWU.

Williams himself is surely being recognised as a force to be reckoned with in the trade union arena. A chef by profession, he said he has also played a role in workers’ representation whether locally or abroad. His trade union has come a long way. They won bargaining representation for workers at Bosai against the longstanding National Association of Agricultural Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE), and held out for four years before the Oldendorff Company recognised them, and workers finally became unionised.
Williams also gained recognition when he secured a five per cent increase in pay for Troy Resources workers at a time when it was common knowledge that the company was not making a profit.
Williams was recently identified as the chief bargaining officer after a special request for his service was made by the recently launched Guyana Seafarers and General Workers Union in Berbice, the first union to represent workers within that trade.