-call for government, union to intervene

WORKERS employed by the Russian bauxite company, RUSAL, are calling on the government to intervene and to carefully consider their plight, which seems to be of growing concern following the lifting of the US sanction, which had the company on its knees over the last few months.

Following the lift, workers have expressed the concern that the company might be returning to its old ways of not putting the interest of the workers first. Representing the 250 workers employed by the Russia-owned company, some workers, under anonymity, spoke with this publication. They related that the situation is currently as though they are choosing the lesser of the two evils, either to stay without employment or earn under hazardous conditions.

For 2018, the workers said that the company only allocated a two per cent increase to their wages, which they deemed as insignificant. This has been the case, they claim, for the last six years or so. In addition, they said the company refuses to honour the labour laws which stipulate that workers must be paid double their rates on holidays.

The working conditions have not only been described as deplorable, but also life-threatening and there is no remuneration package in place for workers, in the eventuality of an industrial accident. One welder employed at RUSAL related that they are required to work at heights over 80 feet, and they are not adequately compensated when completing these jobs, which he deemed as life threatening. He said a bonus, which he described as mediocre is given, but at the company’s discretion.

“It is a very risky job, most of us get wife and kids, when you going up these heights, if anything happens, you can fall and die or get cripple and they are not compensating us for it,” he said. He is also calling on the Department of Labour to visit the workers and inform them on the labour laws as it relates to heights and compensation, since they are not educated on what are the legal stipulations in this regard.

The workers believe that the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers’ Union (GBGW) is not recognised or respected by the company as past proposals are never honoured. General Secretary of the union, Lincoln Lewis, affirmed the position of the workers and revealed that several attempts were made to meet with the managers of RUSAL, but to no avail. He said that several correspondences were sent, copied to junior Minister of Social Protection Keith Scott, but the response was that the union has to deal with the issues relating to the workers. “That is how they (RUSAL) behave, the company says nothing about it, they don’t recognise us,” he said.

The workers are calling on the government to play a greater role in fighting for their rights. “We need them to intervene and reach with the company and let them abide with the labour laws, we need that to happen as early as possible,” one worker said. In April, 2018, a high level ministerial team visited RUSAL and met with workers to discuss issues relating to the US sanction. A task force was established with the Ministers of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman and Simona Broomes, Members of Parliament, Jermaine Figueira and Audwin Rutherford, and GBGWU’s Lewis, etc.

The workers are however questioning the validity of the task force, since there is no continuous flow of communication. When this publication contacted Minister Broomes, she said that she will not be able to comment on the strides made by the task force as she was not involved subsequently after its establishment. MP Rutherford said that he is very much aware of the conditions that the workers are working under, since several of them have made complaints to him. He had forwarded those complaints to the requisite minister. He also related that the task force met about four months ago, while Lewis described it as totally ‘dead’.