NICIL pays sacked Rusal workers for February; Berbice River remains blocked

Feb 25, 2020 News

The state-owned National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) has stepped in to pay 326 workers who were sacked by Rusal in January.

Two Rusal workers collecting their salaries over the weekend.

NICIL, on behalf of the Government of Guyana, owns 10 percent of the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. (BCGI), the local company controlled by Rusal, which has operations in the Upper Berbice River area, Region 10.
Yesterday, General Secretary of the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GBGWU), Lincoln Lewis, disclosed that workers started collecting their February salary on Friday and money was also remitted to the bank accounts of a number of them.
“We had submitted to the government a menu of measures that can help alleviate the hardships of workers of Rusal. We told them that NICIL as part owner has to play a bigger role. The approval was granted by the Ministry of Finance and the workers have been paid.”
Government, the union and Russian-controlled company have been locked in a battle after the company started sending home workers in January, claiming it has run out of fuel, as its duty free concessions and approvals have expired.
It started sending home workers…in all 326.
The workers, for the second time in as many years, blocked the Berbice River, even defying police ranks, effectively stopping vessels, including bauxite-laden ones from leaving. Vessels with logs were allowed through.
Workers have been camping out at the riverfront area, not from mine sites, guarding the barriers across the river.
The government has said it has written the Attorney General’s Chambers asking for legal advice on the sacking of the workers.
Rusal, one of the biggest bauxite companies in the world, has been on a collision course with government and the union since 2009, after it fired almost 60 workers for taking protest action for better conditions.
Since then, BCGI/Rusal has refused to meet the Labour Department, and even derecognized the union.
It was last year that 90 workers were sacked which sparked a one-month standoff, including the blockage of the Berbice River.
The government had to step in to broker a deal for workers to return to their jobs and negotiations to begin for salary increases.
Rusal has come under fire for not declaring profits since it came here in the mid-2000s, but yet was taking out boatloads of bauxite monthly. It has benefitted, reportedly, from almost US$100M in duty free fuel as well as on tax breaks on equipment and vehicles.
This latest issue and actions by Rusal would come as Guyana prepares for general and regional elections next Monday.