— executives expected to meet with gov’t officials today

ACCORDING to U.S. media company Bloomberg, Russian-owned bauxite company RUSAL has suspended its mining unit in Guyana over the current labour conflict which saw the dismissal of over 90 workers for engaging in strike action.

The publication stated that RUSAL, in emailed comments, claimed that workers “declined to work and demanded a pay increase, even though their salaries had been adjusted for forecast inflation at the end of last year.”

This saw the company moving its equipment to a guarded warehouse as part of a decision taken on February 15, 2019, to suspend its mining unit due to a “massive violation of labour discipline.”

However, it is the government and the workers at the Aroaima mining site who believe that RUSAL is in violation of the country’s labour laws.

Workers have complained time and again of wrongful dismissals and suspensions, cuts in benefit and grim working conditions.

Additionqally, even as the company is firing employees, it is looking to hire new employees with executives indicating last week that they were looking to begin a hiring exercise.
Social Protection Minister Amna Ally at a recent meeting with RUSAL executives had lobbied for reinstatement of the fired workers; she made it clear that government’s main interest is to protect the rights of its citizens.

The representatives also met in the presence of Minister responsible for Labour, Keith Scott and Chief Labour Officer (CLO), Charles Ogle.
The CLO has again invited administrators of RUSAL to meet with the Department of Labour and the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers’ Union (GB&GWU) today at 09:00hrs at the office of the CLO.

The government continues to push “that in the interest of all stakeholders, normalcy be returned without further delay.”

However, the workers’ patience is wearing thin and the GB&GWU feels disrespected by the actions of RUSAL, which they feel is a blatant disregard for human and labour rights.
“Their economic model of addressing their operations here is consistent with the economic battles that my foreparents have fought against,” GB&GWU General Secretary Lincoln Lewis told this newspaper.

“The government will have to look for an alternative. Let them go. We’ve had enough of them over the years… we have had a hundred plus years of mining of bauxite in this country and, let me make it very clear, RUSAL has only been here for 14 years. If we have lived 88 years without RUSAL, then they will not be the first and they will not be the last.”

FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
Lewis added that the fundamental rights of workers take precedence.
“You can have all the amenities that people can give to you, but if you don’t have rights and freedom, you’re not living,” he said.

One worker on site told the Chronicle that over the past week, the company had moved some if its equipment to the workshop and dismantled them.
He expressed his frustration with the situation, explaining that workers simply want their rights to be respected.

“If they don’t want to come to terms concerning the laws of the country, then if they have to go, they have to go,” he said.

He added: “They have to pay people and go. Somebody else will come. We cannot go into Russia and do as we please. No company cannot go into Russia and treat the Russian people bad; they have to be governed by the laws of the country and that is what we want.”

RUSAL owns 90 per cent of the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. (BCGI) and has been operating in Guyana since 2004.

Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman has also noted his disappointment over what is taking place, adding that it has opened government’s eyes in realising that there is need for better management of resources.

While not aiming at complete nationalisation, Trotman said there is need for the government to re-assume control and have greater stake in its natural resources, as this will enable better management of its mining sector.

Some workers blame the former administration for the current situation, even as Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo has indicated that his party intends to meet with the workers to have them air their concerns.

“RUSAL came to this country in Jagdeo’s time when Jagdeo was President. He’s the person that brought them here. We don’t know the contract that they signed, but they were going against the labour laws all the time,” he said.

“In 2009 they knocked off 57 persons and Jagdeo did nothing. He did nothing. The Minister of Labour at that time was Manzoor Nadir, he did nothing. Then when Ramotar took office the minister at that time was Nanda Gopaul, he did nothing. So we get those kind of disrespect from the Russians for too long.”

Despite the rising tension, Social Protection Minister Amna Ally will be present at the meeting today and will continue deliberations on the matter.