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14 December, 2009
A subsidiary of Russian multinational RuSAL, the world’s largest producer of aluminium and a major mining house in key resources, has terminated a labour agreement for 600 Guyanese workers over a wage dispute. Rusal announced it no longer recognizes the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers’ Union, something illegal under Guyana’s law and deeply condemned by the ICEM.
General Manager of the Guyanese subsidiary, Sergey Kostyuk, sent a letter to Union President Charles Sampson, stating that the collective agreement between the two entities, and through the Labour Ministry, was “terminated with immediate effect.”
Guyana’s Labour Minister Manzoor Nadir reacted by ordering mandatory arbitration, citing the importance of the bauxite industry to the economy of the country. The Bauxite and General Workers’ Union began a lawful strike on 21 November and that strike is on-going, thus hampering production at a processing plant.
The union called the strike when RuSAL managers failed to give a promised 10% pay raise to workers in Berbice, located in the centre of Guyana. RuSAL also angered workers and their union by sacking 56 for “insubordination, refusal to obey instructions and misconduct,” a dubious charge considering workers were engaged in a lawful strike action.
A Guyanese political party, Working People’s Alliance (WPA), has intervened by pressuring the government to protect the workers’ constitutional rights. WPA stated that the conflict has “grave implications for the entire trade union movement in Guyana,” if RuSAL Bauxite Company of Guyana (BCGI) is not stopped in its total disregard for trade union rights.
The ICEM condemns RuSAL for its ignorance of essential global labour standards and for the negative influence this conduct brings to Guyanese labour relations. The ICEM is calling on RuSAL to reinstate the discharged workers at its bauxite plant and to immediate adopt better industrial relations practices in Guyana.