Exclusive loading rights, not production, hurting Bermine
-Lewis
By Andrew Richards
Stabroek News
May 16, 2002
The problems facing the Berbice Mining Enterprise (Bermine) stem from the company's inability to ship bauxite because government has granted exclusive rights to the loading basin to Viceroy Shipping and have nothing to do with production.
General Secretary of the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union, Lincoln Lewis, made this assertion yesterday at a press conference hosted by the union.
He said that it was wrong for Prime Minister Sam Hinds to say that he was unaware of Bermine's predicament or for him to link that predicament to the workers' proposal for the acquisition of the company.
Prime Minister Hinds had told reporters on Tuesday that Viceroy's exclusive use of the loading basin was not the cause of Bermine's problems in meeting its export obligations. Hinds had said that the silo ship had departed from the loading area and explained that the Alcoa contract with Bermine was predicated on the silo ship still being there. With the ship gone, he said, the cost of using a different type of vessel would have to be discounted from the cost of the contract.
Lewis, who is also the general secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress and president of the Caribbean Congress of Labour, said that the problem at Bermine was not about production or availability of markets, but its inability to ship its product.
He recalled that the feasibility study for the establishment of the transshipment facility in Berbice was conducted for all three bauxite companies and the facility established for all of them - the Aroaima Bauxite Company (ABC), the Linden Mining Company and Bermine.
He said the loading basin and the channel at Berbice were established by ABC and the maintenance was paid for by ABC. The Demerara basin which the Prime Minister referred to was established by Viceroy which put in place the transshipment and mooring facilities at Berbice, he stated.
Lewis noted that government took over Alcoa's shares in ABC late last year and the company became a full state entity.
He stated that all the assets of ABC including the basin within which the Viceroy transshipment facility was stationed now belonged to the state.
Lewis pointed out that in renegotiating the agreement with Viceroy, government granted the company exclusive rights to the basin. Viceroy subsequently informed Bermine's customers that they could no longer send their ships to the basin to collect bauxite since all shipping would be done exclusively by Viceroy.
"By giving Viceroy the monopoly over the basin, government has created serious social economic problems for the people of the two bauxite communities. In effect, the jobs and livelihood of more than 600 workers are now imperilled. Their dependents including parents, children, grandchildren and spouses now face an uncertain future," Lewis said.
He said that government had announced its intention to enter into another bauxite-related agreement that would see the termination of a further 800 jobs in Linden, again affecting thousands of dependents.
He noted that the bauxite industry was made up primarily of workers from one ethnic group. "When the government in its shortsightedness chooses to threaten the well-being of members of that ethnic group in such a seemingly casual and callous manner, it is doing nothing to help race relations. Certainly, one doubts that the sugar industry would have been treated in this manner."
Lewis said Viceroy's shipping rates have been higher over the years than those available elsewhere.
He stated that ABC had been approaching Bermine's customers offering to sell them its product, since the problems associated with the shipping of Bermine's bauxite arose.
This represented an attempt to undercut the company and further weaken it, Lewis said.
He declared that the Prime Minister was aware of the difficulties and several meetings were held by company officials with him on the issue.
According to Lewis, John Lewis, chief executive officer of Bermine, and Julian Archer of the Bauxite Industry Development Company (BIDCO) met Hinds on December 1, 2001, to confirm Viceroy's claim that it had exclusive rights to the basin.
He claimed that the Prime Minister had informed them that he was unaware of this development and referred them to ABC, which owned the basin.
Lincoln Lewis said the matter was discussed at the BIDCO board level and Chairman Ron Webster, undertook to follow up the issue with Hinds. At a subsequent meeting, he stated, Webster reported that it was his understanding from speaking with the Prime Minister that the loading basin was ABC's and that third party vessels would be allowed scheduled access subject to the payment of appropriate fees.
Lincoln Lewis said the board agreed that Bermine should approach ABC directly for permission to use the loading basin and mooring facilities.
He said that at a special meeting on April 3, 2002, the BIDCO board assigned Webster and Claude Saul, a director, to pursue the issue. The two met Hinds on April 6, 2002.
Lincoln Lewis said that at another special board meeting on May 8, 2002, the board instructed the chairman to write to President Bharrat Jagdeo. This was done and a copy of the letter sent to the Prime Minister.
Lincoln Lewis pointed out that Hinds saw it fit to have only members of the ABC board and the chairman of BIDCO to sit with him at the press conference on Tuesday, but did not invite anyone from Bermine or the unions.
The Prime Minister is scheduled to visit Kwakwani to assess the situation there.