Submitted by Guyana Bauxite General Workers Union

GB&GWU grieves with the victims of Manaka accident, demands root cause analysis of accident, and reiterates calls for Ministry of Labour to intervene NOW to stop injuries, loss of income and life at BCGI.

The GB&GWU is deeply grieved and disturbed over the accident involving bauxite workers on June 30 at Manaka, where two died, 15 critically injured and others traumatized. This fatal accident occurred in a company assigned vehicle, on a company road, when workers were being transported to work.  This is an industrial accident resulting from negligence and gross occupational safety and health shortcomings which highlights the risk which bauxite workers face on a daily basis.  We are reminded that accidents do not just happen but are themselves a result of failure to observe measures appropriate to their prevention.

In the case of the Manaka accident this is an accident that happened on the mines property (road) of which the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. (BCGI) is responsible for its maintenance. This road is built from bauxite waste which over the years requires constant maintenance due to its construction materials and the heavy industrial and other traffic that traverses it. Formerly a grader was assigned to maintain the road, making it safe for traffic. This is no longer being done and as such the road has deteriorated to the point where workers’ transportation has to leave much earlier to meet to work on time on a journey that would normally be much shorter. There are times when traversing the road becomes so bad that it takes more than 2 1/2 times what it would normally take  from workplace to home and vice versa. The absence of safety signs to forewarn drivers of the dangerous bend in the road and its deteriorating conditions are also a factor of safety that is missing. The Union is reliably informed that the accident resulted from a collision of on-coming vehicles having to navigate an eroded road at a dangerous turn. Compounding the safety issue is the use of an unsuitable minibus for such conditions as opposed to a more rugged terrain vehicle. It is the responsibility of the employer to take into consideration the safety of every employee before and during the contract of service to transport them from one place to another. The magnitude of the injuries sustained by these employees would not have been so severed if in the first instance the appropriate vehicle was used in transporting the workers.

As the worst accident in the Kwakwani area, resulting in deaths, critical injuries and traumatized workers, it cannot be swept under the carpet as a simple road accident. While the Union is encouraged at the efforts made to save lives, it will not be satisfied to be told that this is as far as it goes. We need a root cause analysis to determine all factors contributing to this very sad loss of lives and injury and immediate short and long term measures to be implemented so that such situations of  hazards are removed or minimized in the daily lives of bauxite workers.

Occupational Health and Safety breaches present a threat to labour’s safety and is not a matter to be taken lightly nor can it be compromised. The safety of BCGI workers has been compromised for some time now and efforts made by the Union to have the Ministry of Labour address concerns have been ignored.  In May 2009 workers were forced to protest unsafe working conditions when the company had them working with malfunctioning vehicles. Some workers fell ill and one is now permanently disabled. The Occupational Safety and Health Act, 98:10  (OSHA) Section 56 (1) (a) and (b) expressly state “A worker may refuse to work or do particular work where he has reasonable justification to believe that any equipment, machine, device, or article the worker is to use or operate presents an imminent and serious danger to the life or health of himself, or another worker; or  the physical condition of the workplace or the part thereof within which he works or is to work presents an imminent and serious danger to his life or health.”  When workers took action consistent with this law BCGI suspended some in clear violation of Section 58 (1) (b) that says “no employer or person acting on behalf of an employer shall discipline or suspend or threaten to discipline or suspend a worker.”  The company has since taken legal actions against the Union leaders.

The Ministry of Labour’s continued refusal to meet with the union and company to resolve these grave matters sends a signal to the union and bauxite workers that BCGI treatment of them has the support of the Government of Guyana, in as much as the Ministry knows that their rights are being transgressed and the OSHA laws violated; even as they know the serious risk to life and limb and consequential social effects on families and communities. As recent as May 2010 the Union again wrote Chief Labour Officer, Yoganand Persaud seeking his involvement to conciliate in the occupational safety and health dispute to undo the wrong done to workers in accordance with OSHA laws and bring about an improvement in working conditions at the workplace. To date there has not been an acknowledgment much less any move to set up a meeting. It is clear that bauxite workers are not in the eyes of this government deserving of justice, safe work conditions and protection of their rights. Even with continued injuries and the loss of life bauxite workers are being ignored.

Working conditions at BCGI is of critical concern and GB&GWU asks the Minister of Labour Mr. Manzoor Nadir and Chief Labour Officer Mr. Yoganand Persaud, as well as civic society how long can you  continue to turn a blind eye or give tactic support to practices that violate workers’ rights, threaten their lives, limbs and livelihood. How long can you ignore the endangerment of bauxite workers? Like sugar workers and every worker of this country bauxite workers must be treated with respect. Workers are not inanimate resources; they are human and the most essential element in the line of production. The GB&GWU warns that unless strong action is taken NOW the situation will get worse and more lives will be loss and injuries sustained.

Meanwhile, the union sends its condolences to the families of the workers who died as a result and to the injured and those who remain traumatized know that we feel your pain and suffering. The union urges all workers of BCGI, all those who consider their lives and health important to stand up and speak out for without health and life you and your family’s are doomed.

GB&GWU calls on the Ministry to do its job and conciliate the dispute with BCGI and to ensure that OSH standards are met immediately. We call for an urgent root cause analysis of the conditions creating the accident at Manaka and the subsequent injuries and loss of life.