THE Chief Labour Officer (CLO) has again invited administrators of Russian bauxite firm RUSAL/Bauxite Company of Guyana to meet with the Department of Labour and the union representing the interests of dismissed workers.

The meeting with the department, the bauxite firm and the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers’ Union (GB&GWU)) is set for 09:00hrs on Monday, March 4, 2019 at the office of the CLO, a release from the Ministry of Social Protection noted.
The ministry said the CLO Charles Ogle is optimistic that at Monday’s meeting he would be able to convince management of the Russian-owned company “that in the interest of all stakeholders normalcy be returned without further delay.”

On Thursday, the local trade union movement held its first in a series of picketing exercises outside the Russian-owned company’s offices in Forshaw Street, Queenstown.
The protest was aimed not only at the company’s current treatment of its employees, but also what the unions contend is a worrying trend of foreign businesses disregarding local labour laws.

The picketing exercise was a joint exercise between umbrella trade union bodies, the Guyana Trade Union Congress (GTUC) and the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG). The picketing is expected to continue today, along with another protest at the company’s Upper Berbice Aroaima operations.

In a joint statement, the two bodies cited similar labour breaches by Malaysian-owned Demerara Timbers Limited (DTL), Canadian-owned Guyana Goldfields Inc., and oil and gas sector company, El Dorado Offshore.

“BCGI’s action is not an isolated incident, but rather seems to be a reflex action by foreign enterprises operating locally,” said FITUG Treasurer Seepaul Narine.
Government has since thrown its support behind the country’s workers and is demanding their reinstatement, so that proper negotiations can take place. The GBGWU is calling for the situation to go to compulsory arbitration.

BCGI on February 18 terminated some 61 workers for going on strike from February 15. Last week, several RUSAL executives held meetings with the Department of Labour and with several government ministers; at the end of those meetings, it was expected that the workers would have been reinstated.

However, in a shocking turn of events, another 30 employees on Monday, February 25th, received letters that they were being laid off.
Oddly, even as the company is firing employees, it is looking to hire new employees, with executives indicating in a meeting last Wednesday that they were looking to begin a hiring exercise from today.

Social Protection Minister Amna Ally, in her meeting with RUSAL executives on Tuesday, reaffirmed that government will be going the “full length” to see reinstatement of the fired workers.