NAACIE and BOSAI Mineral Group (Guyana) Inc. sign MOU

The Ministry of Labour is pleased to announce that it was able to facilitate the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement between the BOSAI Mineral Group (Guyana) Inc. and the National Association of Agricultural Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) yesterday.

This agreement will see employees receiving wages and salary increases along with other benefits for the periods April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022, and April 1, 2022, to December 31, 2022.

It comes after several conciliation sessions that were steered by the Chief Labour Officer, Mr. Dhaneshwar Deonarine in a bid to bring both parties to an amicable resolution.

After seeing reports of the company’s employees taking strike action last month, the Ministry swiftly intervened and engaged both the union and the company. A meeting was held on October 22, 2021, and at that meeting, proposals were made by the Chief Labour Officer to bring the strike action to an end. This then saw the signing of a Terms of Resumption agreement between the parties.

The terms of resumption agreed to were as follows:

1. The Union shall call off the strike with immediate effect.

2. The Union undertakes to ensure that there is full resumption by tomorrow, October 23, 2021.

3. There shall be no victimization by either party and the status quo ante shall remain.

Following the signing of that agreement, the Ministry facilitated approximately six hours of conciliation. Today’s signing took place at the Ministry’s Lot 82 Brickdam, Georgetown head office, with representatives from both parties present. Representing BOSAI were Mr. Eric Yu, General Manager;  Mr. George Zhou, General Manager ag.; Ms. Truedel Marks, Human Resources Manager; Mr. Orin Barnwell, Chief Engineer, and Consultant; and Mr.  John Domer, Chief Security Officer.

Meanwhile, the union was represented by Ms. Karren Mapp, General Secretary ag.; Mr. Bernard Crawford, General President ag.; and Ms. Whitney Graham, Junior Vice President.

The Chief Labour Officer thanked BOSAI’s management and the union for their patience and understanding as the Ministry served as the conciliator guiding the entire process.

BOSAI’s management also thanked the Chief Labour Officer for facilitating the signing of the agreement, adding that it is cognizant that all labour laws must be followed and it is will always open to dialogue to sustain industrial relations.

The union also thanked the company for its willingness to listen to the concerns raised and thanked the Chief Labour Officer for facilitating the entire process.