GAWU urges ministry to address plight of DTL workers

The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) is appealing to the Ministry of Labour to address the plight of the workers at Demerara Timbers Limited (DTL) who have reported “serious concerns” to the union.

In a release yesterday, GAWU stated that it has written to Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton requesting that he and ministry officials along with the union, pay a visit to DTL’s Mabura Hill location. In its correspondence, it was highlighted that the workers had expressed serious concerns with the situation at the company’s Mabura location.

The union said that it had observed that the minister and officials had visited another company site in Region Seven Vaitarna Private Holdings Inc – and this was what prompted them to request that a similar visit be made to DTL, Mabura Hill.

However, according to the union, despite being told by the ministry that a visit would be arranged and that they will be contacted, none so far has been forthcoming. This despite a follow-up being made which resulted in them being given the same message, that the visit will be arranged. The union has noted that the Minister has visited several interior locations since taking up office and “it appears, for one reason or the other, there is some reluctance to visit the DTL location. We sincerely hope this is not the case.”

GAWU noted, that as the bargaining agent for the DTL workers, it has been representing their concerns to the Company which in turn committed to addressing them. However, the workers have reported that the situation has hardly improved. Further, it stated that DTL has adopted an arm’s length approach to GAWU and the efforts of both the Union and the Ministry to correct that situation have so far been unsuccessful.