Bauxite workers are not treated equally

Leaders of government usually set the tone for the nation, among which integrity is established and respect is maintained, based on the things they say and do. When Guyana Prime Minister Hinds told this nation at a Buxton political meeting that the government treats bauxite and sugar workers equally, it raises serious questions about his integrity and whether he cares little or nothing about being respected. It also opens speculation whether the high level of dishonesty that flourishes in our society has to do with the fact that these leaders are not publicly fact-checked and held accountable.

Buxtonians and the people of this country deserve to be treated with respect by being told the truth. On the matter of industrial relations for bauxite workers and sugar workers, equality in this context is defined as, “the state of being equal, especially in status, rights, and opportunities.” The truth is sugar workers and bauxite workers are not treated equally. Some evidence is cited to support the case of inequality and to also jolt the Prime Minister’s memory:

1. The disregard for the constitutional right to freedom of association and collective bargaining for bauxite workers but same being respected for sugar workers. An example is the two-year struggle being waged by the Guyana Bauxite & General Workers Union (GB&GWU) to have the Ministry of Labour enforce the labour laws that would see the Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated respecting the rights of workers.
2. Taking away the tax-free overtime bauxite workers singularly fought for and won under a PNC administration which was also extended to sugar workers by the PNC administration. This benefit was taken away from bauxite workers by the PPP administration even as it remains in sugar.
3. The government breaking up the bauxite workers self contributing pension plan worth in excess of 2.5 billion dollars even as it injected millions to save the sugar workers’ pension plan. Today no bauxite worker can receive a pension from his years of labour in the industry, while that benefit will be guaranteed for sugar workers;
4. The refusal of the government to facilitate the Linmine management plan of US$20 million to retool the bauxite industry even as it shortly thereafter injected more than US$110 million of our tax dollars into sugar to build the Skeldon Factory.
5. The refusal of the government to activate the law and investigate the industrial accident of June 2010 involving bauxite workers that claimed the life of Remington ‘Tuts’ Wade and inflicted serious injuries on others, even as it rightly investigated the May 2010 Enmore Sugar factory industrial accident of Jainarine ‘Derrick‘ Singh who unfortunately succumbed to his injuries.