Trade unions and employers – the True Time

EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES in Suriname need a lot of time to find each other in labor disputes. The Ogane Employees’ Organization Suriname (Owos), the union of the Energy Companies Suriname, has not been able to get along with director Leo Brunswijk for some time. The breaking point is that the company’s management does not answer letters from the union.

It is notable that Minister David Abiamofo of Natural Resources distances himself from the conflict. This attitude is unworthy of a minister. But the president takes responsibility and has promised the union to work seriously towards a solution to the union’s long-standing conflict with director Brunswijk. In her approach she will have to take into account the wish of the association board to dismiss the director because he is not being cooperative.

Staff at Anton de Kom University also stopped work, but thanks to the actions of Vice President Gregory Russia, the situation was ‘normalized’. Every strike – no matter how short – leads to loss of production and productivity.

Previously has the True Time has already been pointed out in the daily commentary that employers ignore signals or even warnings from trade unions, which often leads to job cuts. Once this happens, the employer rushes to invite the union to come and talk and in many cases things calm down again. Sometimes outside mediation is necessary to achieve this.

The cold disappears for a while, but the problem remains. Depending on the nature of the conflict, it takes longer or shorter time to reach an agreement through negotiation and often the staff has to take action again to persuade management to cooperate in a solution.

Parties do not seem to realize that the longer a conflict – strike – lasts, the more resentment arises in society. But even worse, every day without work is a violation of the production process and leads to loss of income for both the company and the state.

A well-known phenomenon is that agreements between employer and trade union are not fulfilled by the employer. In almost all cases this is a reason to take action again. All this creates distrust and must be avoided. Parties must approach each other openly and sincerely and employers should not make promises that they know in advance cannot be kept. Apparently this is done to buy time and restore peace. But that is only a postponement of execution, as has so often proven in practice.

The erosion of norms and values ​​has increased and a lot of time is needed for recovery. Honesty and openness from politicians, authorities and employers must be the guiding principle in these difficult times in which citizens have to survive. The world is not waiting for Suriname and there is no time to waste time. There are plenty of problems that need to be solved. People want a lot, but not everything can be achieved at once.-.

*read also ‘President promises serious attention to protracted conflict between union and EBS management: ‘If it is up to us, the general manager can leave’ and the column ‘Kese kese current’