AFTER being flagged in March by the Ministry of Labour for breaching a number of labour laws, the management of Vaitarna Private Holdings Incorporated (VPHI), located at Wineperu, Bartica, has since commenced upgrades to improve the working conditions there.
Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle during a recent visit to the company, Operations Manager Shaheed Mohammed said the management team is currently taking a “one step at a time” approach to enforce all the labour laws and upgrade the living conditions of its employees.
Representatives of the ministry during a visit to the company in March this year, discovered a number of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) violations. These included exposed electrical wires in water, little or no COVID-19 protocols in place and unsuitable living conditions for employees.

Subsequently, a meeting was held with the managers of the company in Georgetown, where it was agreed that the company would be given three months to address the issues. “From then to now, we start improving and we will continue to improve. One of it was the COVID restriction, the health and safety [and] also the living quarters for workers…so all of those we start elevating and raising to the standard that is required,” Mohammed said. According to him, the breaches were a result of setbacks and breakdowns in the management system. He assured that they are now being corrected.
He noted too that general cleaning and excavation works were also being done at the worksite in keeping with OSH guidelines. Electrical rewiring, instillation of COVID-19 protocols and upgrades to workers’ living quarters were also made.
The issue of overtime payment has also been corrected.

However, Mohammed said that additional works are required to improve the lives of workers. “We are working to upgrade the living conditions; firstly the general working environment, we still have a lot more work to do to get everything up to standard.”
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Labour Minister, Joseph Hamilton, commended the company for their efforts in refining the work environment.
“The same way I lambasted this company, I would like to start out by saying compliments to what they have done. The last three months they paid attention to the officer’s guidance regarding occupational safety and health,” the minister said.
He added: “People were working here daily and they were more dead than alive so to speak. What I noticed today is that wires are rerouted overhead, fire extinguishers are hung, the place is clean.”

Making a call for both local and foreign companies to respect and uphold the country’s labour laws, the minister said: “Let me say this to companies, and I will keep saying this to people, you have two options: either you obey the law and comply, or I call press conferences and let them see how this works out.”
He added that failure to comply will result in companies being called out publicly for breaching the labour laws.
“All companies you obey and comply. You refuse to do that I will assemble the media and attempt to publicly shame you. That is the bottom line, whether you be a local company or overseas company,” Hamilton asserted.