Bauxite Union loses confidence in Minister Scott’s management of dispute

Fired RUSAL workers

…questions his “trustworthiness”

The Guyana Bauxite & General Workers Union (GB&GWU) has declared that it has lost confidence in Minister within the Protection Ministry, Keith Scott’s management of its current dispute with the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc (BCGI), which fired 142 workers last week.

A report from the Department of Public Information (DPI) on Friday stated that Minister Scott, who has the responsibility of the Labour Department, was part of a meeting on Thursday, January 23, 2020, to engage the Union and the management of the BCGI, the local subsidiary of the Russia-owned RUSAL, over the sacked employees.
However, in a statement on Saturday, the GB&GWU said that while such a meeting was indeed held and chaired by the Chief Labour Officer, Charles Ogle, the Minister was nowhere in sight.
“Minister Scott did not even have an invisible presence that was felt.  He did not even make a brief entrance,” the Union noted. It added that if the report is accurate then the Minister is involved in “serious misrepresentations”, which raises question as to his trustworthiness and motive.
According to GB&GWU, this is not the first incident of deception and mistrust on the issues of labour, in particular, those relating to bauxite workers that involved Minister Scott and his department.
“This is, however, the most blatant and disreputable. It is more so since said claim can be easily disproved by those in attendance and the register of attendance at the Department of Labour. This act begs the question of the Minister’s desperation or confidence that he can successfully lie and have his lie circulated via the media. As a consequence, GB&GWU is declaring publicly that it has lost all confidence in Minister Scott’s management of this labour dispute,” the missive detailed.
Some 142 RUSAL workers were given marching orders effective Thursday, January 23, 2020, and were told by the management of that company that such a decision had to be made since Government has blocked the duty-free importation of fuel.
The Union went on to say that the GB&GWU has reflected on many occasions of the goodwill of Minister Scott in seeking timely and meaningful resolution of the bauxite workers’ industrial dispute. It was noted that the BCGI/GB&GWU dispute is more than a decade-old issue and outside of the gains made last year March through the stern grit of Social Protection Minister Amna Ally in bringing the BCGI management to the bargaining table to respect the Union as the recognised workers’ representative, no other meaningful achievements have been made under Minister Scott’s sole oversight.
“GB&GWU is of the strong view that Minister Scott has also not demonstrated he has the capacity, political, experiential, or labour driven perspectives to successfully manage the department he leads.  He has certainly not in the case of the bauxite and gold workers demonstrated ministerial trustworthiness,” the Saturday statement contained.
In 2019, the BCGI had dismissed over 90 workers during a dispute over strike action due to a demand for a pay hike.