Union 'blindsided' by bauxite lay-offs
- 250 expected to lose jobs
Stabroek News
January 4, 2004
General Secretary of the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union, Lincoln Lewis, says the union was blindsided by the decision of the Aroaima Mining Com-pany's (AMC) management to lay-off workers despite several meetings in recent weeks.
On New Year's Eve Prime Minister Sam Hinds in a letter to union leaders announced the closure of the Aroaima site on the Berbice river and warned of subsequent lay-offs. Stabroek News understands that around 250 workers are to be cut, out of a workforce of 749. Lewis told Stabroek News yesterday that some workers had received their termination letters on Thursday. The letters indicated the various termination benefits to which the workers being made redundant are entitled.
But he said the union and company management met as late as Tuesday at the Ministry of Labour and the management had given no indication of its intention to move ahead with the downsizing.
He said that it was typical of the government's attitude to industrial relations and described it as part of its union-busting attempts. He declined to go into details about the union's plans except to indicate that it planned to internationalise the dispute.
The letter from the Prime Minister on December 31 alerted the union to the impending retrenchment exercise. Hinds said his letter was based on reports from the Aroaima management and his own knowledge of the industry. He said he was of the opinion that the issue had already been raised with the union.
Mohamed Akeel, the Ministry of Labour's Chief Industrial Relations Officer, confirmed that no mention was made of the impending downsizing, announced in Hinds' letter. However, he said Aroaima's management had no obligation to state its intention at the meeting.
Akeel said the company had written to the ministry indicating its intention to restructure the company and that some 250 workers are likely to be affected.
Lewis had indicated that neither the union nor the Ministry of Labour had been informed.
Meanwhile Neil Kumar, board chairman of the AMC, says restructuring of the company is in the interest of the company as well as the country.
He told Stabroek News that the restructuring would be done objectively and fairly and would be done in phases.
Kumar indicated yesterday that the restructuring would begin in the maintenance section of the company, which is overstaffed and where some 50 workers are to be retrenched.
Kumar said it was necessary for the company to be restructured if it was to survive and be in a position to benefit from the resurgence of commodity prices. He stressed that Guyana's industry was in the fortunate position of having a very good product.
A recent strike was called to force the management to pay the five per cent wage increase it agreed to make for last year as well as the to pay a six per cent increase for 2004. The strike is said to have cost the company US$500,000.
Alcoa's concept paper, which had envisaged the merging of Aroaima and the Berbice Mining Company had projected a 400-strong workforce within three years of the merger. When the Aroaima management was given the responsibility for managing the operations of Bermine at Kwakwani, the workforce was reduced to 749 but there was always the prospect of more lay-offs as the reserves at Aroaima ran out and operations switched to Kwakwani, which has a large ore reserve.