No Consultations with unions held prior to preparation of Dossier

Jun 21, 2010 News

There were no consultations held with the unions as it relates to the dossier that was presented to the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) by Labour Minister Manzoor Nadir recently.

This is according to General Secretary (ag) of the Guyana Trades Union Congress, Norris Witter, who said that he is waiting to see if the Minister will make good on his commitment to use his office to facilitate a meeting between the bauxite company now owned by RUSAL and the Guyana General Workers and Bauxite Union with a view to settling the current impasse.

ICEM, based in Geneva, Switzerland, had written to the Labour Minister to express concern over the Ministry’s, “woeful neglect in upholding national Guyanese laws and international labour standards in the long-running dispute between GB&GWU and the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. (BCGI).”

Witter did state that while the dossier was prepared void of consultations with the union, should there be any grey areas in the document, then ICEM will make contact directly with the union for clarifications.

ICEM is a global union federation that represents mining trade unions in approximately 100 countries, and the dossier stemmed from the entity’s issuance of the letter to the Minster on the dispute.

Guyana’s delegation which comprised Minister Nadir, Advisor to the Consultative Association of Guyanese Industry, Jerry Goolsarran, and Assistant Chief Labour Occupational Safety and Health Officer, Lydia Greene, met with the General Secretary of ICEM Manfred Warda and his colleague Dick Blin.

Minister Nadir told ICEM that he was pleased to have submitted the dossier as it would allow ICEM to base its decisions on information from all sides.

He assured ICEM that the Government of Guyana is not involved in any form of union busting nor will it deviate from its responsibilities of being a fair and impartial mediator in any industrial dispute.