| – Details litany of labour violations committed by BCGIIn light of plans for President Donald Ramotar to visit the Upper Berbice River to commission the Kurubuku mines today, the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) has come out in strong condemnation of the occasion, stating that the President’s planned visit was giving legitimacy to the exploitation existing at the site for years.GTUC is claiming that workers are not being protected by Gov’t.In a press release yesterday, the GTUC revealed that the Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated (BCGI) has for the past five years been employing Guyanese,Dirk Nowitzki Jersey, who are forced to accept arbitrary allocations or reductions of benefits such as vacation and days off.In the release, the union went on to detail even more transgressions against the health and safety laws of Guyana, such as preventative measures in the wake of accidents and industrial deaths not being implemented. There was also the concern raised that health benefits, retirement and pension plans for workers were being ignored.According to GTUC, there is no lunch room,Anders Bjork Jersey, toilet or other basic facilities. Workers are exposed to public health hazards, safety and occupational disasters just to ‘enrich foreign masters.’ In order to facilitate the president’s visit, portable toilets and tents are being rented by BCGI, but basic amenities for workers are being ignored.The release highlighted that the community of Hururu, adjoining Kurubuku mines, was being ‘hoodwinked’ into signing a 25-year lease for 27.4 prime acres of land at $5000 per acre, all facilitated by the Government. Pauline Sukhai, Minister of Amerindian Affairs was named as having presided over the agreement.Calling on Guyanese to signal their disapproval of BCGI’s violations, the release did not spare RUSAL (parent company of BCGI)“The environmental and labour violations of RUSAL are universally known and evident in Russia where RUSAL operates. Where any government partners with a foreign source to violate any of its citizens the people in whose hands ultimate power rests should signal their disapproval.”“GTUC calls on all Guyanese to recognize that the claim by this Government of being working class-centered must be reviewed for merit. For at the very centre of a working class ideology is care,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, consideration, and the protection of all workers’ rights not just some. It is time for all Guyanese to recognize that the claim of “working class” is nothing more than a political mantra, a campaign gimmick that has been used for years to galvanize the support and loyalty of Guyanese workers identified as supporters for political power.”“That this violation of the laws of Guyana,Calgary Flames Gear, the rights of bauxite workers are allowed to be transgressed by BCGI without timely resolution,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, speaks to administrative collusion, that leaves the GTUC and independent thinkers with no choice but to conclude that in Guyana bauxite workers, are less valued than their counterparts in other industries and communities where the government enjoys political support. The five years plus unresolved labour dispute is a stain on this government that speaks to its unwillingness to govern in the interest of all Guyanese and hence its unworthiness to continue in this regard.”In May 2014, the BCGI was heavily criticized by the Guyana Bauxite Workers Union (GB&GWU), following an accident involving 10 workers on Kwakwani Road. The accident had happened on a road that was being poorly maintained by BCGI.In 2010 there was an accident of similar nature in which 2 workers lost their lives and 15 were seriously injured.Efforts to contact Minister of Labour, Dr. Nanda Gopaul,Cheap Jerseys 2018, were futile. |
