Sacked RUSAL workers to be reinstated
CAPTION: RUSAL’s Russin executives (from right) Company Representative in Guyana, Vladimir Permyakov and Director of Alumina and Bauxite Department, Sergey Kostyuk, meets with Minister of State Joseph Harmon, Minister of Social Protection Amna Ally, Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman and others
CAPTION: RUSAL’s Russin executives (from right) Company Representative in Guyana, Vladimir Permyakov and Director of Alumina and Bauxite Department, Sergey Kostyuk, meets with Minister of State Joseph Harmon, Minister of Social Protection Amna Ally, Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman and others

…high-level gov’t team urges company to recognise GB&GWU

SEVERAL government ministers on Thursday met with foreign executives of Russian company RUSAL, and together they reached an agreement of sorts on the fate of the 60 workers that were fired, whereby the government team was able to impress upon the visitors that all 60 workers should be reinstated, and that the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GBGWU) ought to be recognised as the official bargaining agents on the workers’ behalf.

Government was represented by Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, and Ministers Amna Ally and Keith Scott of the Ministry of Social Protection, and Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman.

According to a statement from the Ministry of the Presidency (MoTP), the government’s team made it clear that Guyanese workers must be treated respectfully at all times, and that likewise, the country’s labour laws must at all times be upheld.

Coming out of the meeting, the MoTP said, there was a decision that a team from the Ministry of Social Protection (MoSP), headed by Ministers Ally and Scott, will travel to Aroaima today to meet with the aggrieved employees, who, in defiance, are still occupying the company’s mining area.

Representing RUSAL at Thursday’s meeting were its resident Representative Vladimir Permyakov, and Sergey Kostyuk, Director of its Alumina and Bauxite Department.
Russian Aluminium (RUSAL) owns 90 per cent of the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc., (BCGI), which last Monday fired 61 employees with immediate effect after they went on strike on Friday, February 15. One employee has since been reinstated, but the fate of the others is still in the balance.

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle on Thursday, Minister Ally explained that while the company has made no guarantees just yet, both sides are in agreement that they want to see the issue to be amicably resolved.

“That meeting was our first engagement, and we’ve not come to any concrete decision,” Minister Ally said, adding:
“We explained to them what the purpose of the meeting is, and we’ve made some demands of them, the main one being the reinstatement of all 60 workers who have been dismissed. We’ve also said to them that the issue of the recognition of the union cannot be an issue any longer, because a legitimate poll was conducted, and the union was identified.
The RUSAL people have said that they’re going to discuss these matters with their principal, and we expect a feedback before Saturday.”

The government also wishes to see the company address the issues which prompted the employees to go on strike in the first instance.

“What we’ve said to them,” Minister Ally said, “is that we would like for this matter to be settled amicably. We also spoke to them about union and management [discussing] their outstanding issues. The fourth [issue] was that it is inhuman to displace so many families, and we would like all four anomalies to be corrected. There’s been no commitment, but [today] we are going to Aroaima to meet with the workers.”

In addition to meeting the employees, the MoSP will also be providing support to the dismissed workers, particularly in the provision of basic amenities.

“We are a caring government, and a caring ministry. We have to find a way to give support and we cannot just leave them there. We have to be able to give them some sort of support for their livelihood so it shouldn’t be interpreted adversely,” Ally is quoted in a MoTP statement as saying.

The striking employees are protesting the Russian management’s imposition of a one per cent wage increase, among other grievances, including unsafe working conditions at the company.

It was reported that subsequent to the strike, BCGI last Friday issued an edict evicting a number of workers and their families from Maple Town, Aroaima, a residential community owned by the company.

However, on Tuesday, the company sought to clarify that it did not ask the Maple Town residents to leave, and it is the employees striking on location at the mining site who are being commanded to vacate.

Engagement with the company began last Tuesday when Permyakov along with the company’s Personnel Manager, Mikhail Krupenin, and Local Adviser, Mohamed Akeel, attended a Department of Labour meeting with Chief Labour Officer, Charles Ogle.
Following Tuesday’s meeting, BCGI established that their position is that the contracts of the employees do not provide for them to be absent from work, not even in the case of a strike; and the company reiterated that it does not recognise the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GBGWU), which represents over 90 per cent of the company’s employees.

Permyakov deemed the strike by employees as an “illegal action”, and believes the company was within its legal right to fire the workers, notwithstanding the fact that Guyana’s constitution states that “no person shall be hindered in the enjoyment of his or her freedom to strike”.

The Ministry of the Presidency (MoTP) also issued a statement on Thursday reaffirming the government’s stance on the situation, and the outcome of the meeting.

During the meeting, Minister Harmon said government views the ongoing dispute as serious and noted that it was among priority matters on the agenda at the ministerial plenary.

“There are two objectives to this: the Guyanese workers must be treated in a respectful and fair manner at all times; their rights must be respected and at the same time, the company must function and ensure it makes profits for its shareholders. It is a question of finding common ground and ensure that our workers’ rights are respected. We must find common ground to move forward. The issues must be dealt with in a clear way,” quotes Harmon, in a MoTP press statement.

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