… Union feels it’s ‘a national issue’ that warrants local intervention

MINISTER of Foreign Affairs, Mr Carl Greenidge, is looking into how Guyana will be affected by the United States’ sanctioning of Russian firm, Rusal, which operates the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. (BCGI) in Region 10.

On April 6, the United States (US) treasury announced sanctions against 12 Russian oligarchs and 12 companies which they own or control on the grounds that they were engaging in “malign activities”.

This is according to international news agency, Reuters, which states that among the companies are En+ Group and Rusal, both of which are owned by Russian billionaire, Oleg Deripaska, who was also sanctioned.
Since then, Russian stocks have crashed, aluminum prices have surged, international financial groups have distanced themselves from the company, and two non-executive directors have resigned.

In addition, the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) has indicated in a statement that the company will be deleted from its index, while all of Rusal’s assets have been frozen and are under U.S. jurisdiction.

Thus far, Moscow has expressed its willingness to assist the blacklisted company with short-term-liquidity, and is contemplating hitting back at the U.S. through its goods produced in Russia.

Here in Guyana, Rusal has a 90 per cent stake in the BCGI, while the remaining 10 per cent belongs to the Government of Guyana.
In an interview with Minister Greenidge earlier this week, he said that the government has not yet received feedback from Rusal on the matter, but will be working carefully to determine what the effects will be.

“I’m aware of the problem … At this point in time, we are still trying to pluck out the essentials and to get an informed analysis of what implications this has,” Minister Greenidge said, adding: “I hope that it is not going to have any long-term implications for the social wellbeing of our people, employment levels and export earnings.
“But, more importantly, in the immediate future, that it has no challenges in regards to social welfare.”

WILL TAKE TIME
Then on Wednesday, he said that a proper examination of the situation will take time, but that the government is cognizant of its need to address the issue as quickly as possible.
“We are looking at the implications; it is not easy to get an instant analysis of the situation,” he said. “We have to look to work out the implications. We are concerned to do that quickly, so that we can avoid any adverse consequences on the social side.

“At this point in time, I don’t think we or the company would be in a position to say this is what is going to happen tomorrow as a consequence.”

General Secretary of Guyana Bauxite and General Workers’ Union (GB&GWU), Lincoln Lewis feels there are grounds enough for the Guyana Government to intervene.
“The issue of the sanctioning of Rusal has become a national issue for us here, and the government is required to give leadership to it; to bring the stakeholders together and to communicate on the implications to Guyana,” he said.

He further said that there should be no excuse as to why, thus far, representatives from Rusal have not communicated on the matter with workers on-site.
He said that based on information coming from Aroiama, the mining and transporting of bauxite have been halted, and focus has been shifted to maintenance works and cleaning up the operation.

“They have ceased mining for the time being and the shipment of bauxite from Aroiama to the ports in New Amsterdam and Berbice,” he said.

This was confirmed by two workers at the site who spoke with the newspaper.
One said they learnt of the sanctioning of the Russian company through the local newspapers, and that since then work at the site has come to a standstill.

NO CLUE, JUST RUMOUR
“We are still working, but there has been no loading of barges or movement of bauxite,” he said, “so, at the present moment, we don’t have a clue or an idea of what is really happening. There is just a lot of speculation going on.

“For a couple of days now, just after we heard about the sanction, they stopped shipping, but they are still stockpiling. We had wanted to talk to them on behalf of the Union but they told us that on the return of the General Manager, then they will address the situation.”

He described the atmosphere at the mining site as tense, and filled with a lot of speculation, as some persons are worried about losing their jobs.
Prior to news about the sanction, he said, efforts were being made to improve working conditions at the site, which previously drew the attention of the media following a series of complaints.

Meanwhile, another employee says that he is worried about whether the development will affect the payment of workers.
He says that it is unethical to have workers wait without a clear understanding of when they will receive word from the company.

Before the fallout, Rusal was regarded as the world’s second-largest aluminum producer, with a global output this year estimated at 65 million tonnes.