Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 14, 2015 News
Employees of the Technical Services Laboratory, at the Bosai bauxite Plant, walked off the job on Monday night, last, according to a Bosai press release.
The workers were reportedly protesting the detention of colleagues by police, who are currently investigating an incident which occurred at the company, last Saturday.
The workers also complained of feeling unsafe at work during the night shift.
This development, the release further stated, stemmed from an incident which occurred at about 04:45 hours last Saturday (January 10), where an unidentified person gained access to a secured area of the Technical Services Laboratory and carted off crucibles valued over $2 million.
The incident occurred in the presence of employees who were on duty in the lab at the time, according to the release.
It was further stated that Bosai Security and the Guyana Police Force were immediately summoned to the scene, and are presently conducting investigations into the matter, since the intruder managed to escape with the crucibles.
Two employees were subsequently taken into police custody, to assist with investigations, the release added.
However, one person has since been released whilst the other remains in custody assisting with investigations.
”It was alleged that an unidentified individual breached the company security, and illegally entered the lab area through a ventilation shaft and unlawfully removed the crucibles that are critical to the company’s operations. The crucibles are extremely essential for Bauxite Quality Control.
Bosai Security and the Guyana Police Force were immediately summoned to the scene and are presently conducting investigations into the matter, since the intruder managed to escape with the crucibles,” the release said.
Meanwhile an executive of the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE), the workers’ union, informed the company that they should instruct the Police to release the employee currently in custody. As a result, management invited the union to a meeting yesterday, and they were taken to the area where the incident occurred to have a first-hand look. They were briefed and shown the CCTV footage of the intruder and the incident. The company informed the union officials that they cannot instruct the Police on how to execute their investigation and to arrest or release anyone.
It was also pointed out to the union that the police involvement is necessary since a crime has been committed, and especially since there has been an increase in crime in the community, the release added.
Meanwhile in an earlier statement, Bosai had indicated that the stolen instruments are extremely essential to the bauxite operations, as they are used to analyse the bauxite ore contents, and that without these, the whole operation’s analytical chain would be forced to shut down.
INNOCENT
A distraught mother Beverley Coppin and her daughter-in-law Niketa Joseph are meanwhile questioning the ‘’locking up’’ of Jerry Joseph, who they maintain is innocent of any wrongdoing.
Both women cried openly outside the Mackenzie Police station as they spoke with this newspaper.
Nikita Joseph, who is in an advanced stage of pregnancy, said that her husband was only recently promoted, and would never do anything to jeopardize his job.
His mother Beverley Coppin maintained, “My son would never do such a thing, I grew him up in the church – he is innocent, I want him out of that stinking cell.”
Joseph was one of the two employees taken into police custody on Monday afternoon, as investigations into the robbery committed at the Bosai Bauxite Plant progressed.
According to reports, Joseph was one of the employees on duty in the Bauxite laboratory, when a lone, armed intruder entered and escaped with four critical ‘instruments”.
An employee who spoke to this newspaper on condition of anonymity, said that he found it very disturbing that the company was only ‘focused’ on the loss that had been incurred, and no thought was given to the fact that another employee could have been killed in the process of the robbery.
“Right now workers are not feeling safe, because security is inadequate – look at the way the last guy was killed…if there was adequate security that would not have happened. And in this last case, this employee could have also been killed, because the man was armed with a gun.
I think Bosai really needs to step up security and safety regulations to safeguard workers’ lives.”
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