– union, company continue negotiations for new collective labour agreement

WORKERS of the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc (BCGI) are calling for an improvement in vacation benefits, increase in wages and salaries, education allowances for workers and their families, among other things.

On behalf of the unionised workers, the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU) has started negotiations with the company.

According to a press statement from the union, following the settlement of a dispute on March 20, 2019, between the BCGI and workers of Aroaima and Kwakwani, there has been engagement with the BCGI management, on day-to-day differences.
The union has been able, to date, to conduct its activities in an uninhibited atmosphere. Workers are, however, still mobilised and are anxiously awaiting the outcome of a new Collective Labour Agreement which is to be realised from the on-going negotiation which will continue on Friday, July 26, 2019.

The GB&GWU’s negotiation team would be led by General Secretary, Lincoln Lewis and BCGI Branch President and Secretary, Ephraim Velloza and Leslie Junor, respectively. Both union and the BCGI management are expected to continue the negotiation in good faith.
The negotiation was preceded by a gruelling struggle for respect for the recognition by the employer of the union, even though the union was recognised by the Trade Union Recognition and Certification Board since May 2007.

The struggle to bring the union and the BCGI management together was the longest struggle of such nature in the history of independent Guyana, lasting for nine-plus years, and spanning three political regimes.

GB&GWU commits to upholding its end of the agreement and will not shy away from holding BCGI accountable for same.
“We are committed to ensuring a new CLA being realised within the shortest possible time,” said the union.

RUSSIAN-owned bauxite company, RUSAL, which owns 90 per cent of the BCGI, agreed to engage in bilateral discussions with the union, a step down from its initial refusal to meet with the union if its general secretary, Lewis, was present.
It was reported that the company and union have been at odds for close to a decade and the situation worsened recently when RUSAL fired a number of workers who had protested a meagre salary increase.

The company had also declared that it has not been making profits in recent years and will be closing sections of its operations while laying off some 91 workers.

Despite not recognising the union in the past, the company had made it clear that it will recognise the union in the interest of the workers and nation. Lewis said it is necessary for both sides to work together in the interest of the workers and the country.