IndustriALL wants fair deal for Alcoa workers

As Suriname’s parliament prepares to discuss a controversial agreement on Alcoa’s withdrawal from the country and the handover of its hydroelectric dam, IndustriALL and its Caribbean affiliates are calling on legislators to send the agreement back to the drawing board. Alcoa has been mining bauxite for 50 years, shipping it to the US for processing. In the 1950s, the company built a hydroelectric dam, a refinery and a smelter to produce aluminium in Suriname. At the time, Alcoa entered into a 75year agreement with Suriname’s government, the Brokopondo agreement.

For Suriname, bauxite provided a muchneeded opportunity to create jobs, develop skills and generate foreign earnings.

Alcoa committed itself to maintain operations in the country until 2033 but this promise was broken in 2015 when it closed its refinery. A tentative exit deal reached with Alcoa has been rejected by unions and civil society. During IndustriALL’s Caribbean meeting, in Paramaribo, Suriname, on 1213 November, IndustriALL reiterated the demands of its affiliate C47 for a fair deal for Suriname and for the workers. “Alcoa would never have accepted that Suriname opted out of the agreement. There needs to be an exit agreement that takes into account the interests of the people of Suriname”, said IndustriALL regional officer Laura Carter.