Opposition Leader says Indian nationals not told about meetings with labour ministry, company

Last Updated on Saturday, 23 May 2026, 7:21 by Writer

Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed on Friday denied that the Batavia quarry Indian labourers were aware that they were required to meet with officials of the Ministry of Labour and representatives of their employer, EKAA HRIM Earth Resources Management to thrash out their grievances and collect monies owed to them.

“No one informed the nationals about any meetings,” Mr Mohamed told Demerara Waves Online News.

He said the workers were “all” going to be at the labour ministry by latest 9:30 a.m. on Friday for individual meetings.

“We’re going back there and going inside they would be asking to see the Chief Labour Officer and a request (for) persons from the company to come,” he said.

Mr Mohamed said the workers were inside the ministry building’s seating area where they had a meal and also outside the building and at no time did anyone inform them that they were required for individual meetings.

Consultant to EKAA HRIM Earth Resources Management, Guyanese lawyer Yoganand Persaud told a news conference late on Thursday afternoon that the company was eager to have the complaints resolved and workers paid all outstanding monies due.

He accused the 38 workers of remaining outside the labour ministry instead of entering to participate in individual meetings with officials and company representatives. “The issue here are there are people who we need to deal with and they’re not coming to the ministry because we are waiting to deal with each complaint,” he said.

Mr Persaud could not say whether EKAA HRIM Earth Resources Management would pay the return airfare for those who would like to return to their homeland, citing the fact that there are certain stipulations in the contract.

In response to Mr Persaud’s claim that the workers were not receiving food and that the Indian High Commission needed to intervene, the Opposition Leader and leader of the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) political party said on Friday “we ate lunch in the compound” on Thursday.

One of the contracts seen by Demerara Waves Online News states that the EKAA HRIM Earth Resources Management workers would have to pay the company US$3,000 if they are terminated for breaches and poor performance, and also stand their own return travel expenses.

Mr Persaud sought to put that down as one of the employment contract terms.

He was also at pains to offer an explanation for the 72-hour work-week and the lumping of salary and overtime into one payment. “That is how the contract was negotiated between the parties that is what that was put to them and that is what they accepted. There was an offer and there was an acceptance,” he said.

Mr Persaud, who is a former Chief Labour Officer, said the workers’ passports were never taken away from them on arrival in Guyana.

Instead, he said they orally agreed to lodge their travel documents with management for safe-keeping.

He produced a book showing that workers periodically sign to uplift their passports to open bank accounts and conduct other transactions and then return them.

The passports were returned to the workers on Monday afternoon.

The company also provided what it said was evidence that the workers’ social security deductions were paid to the National Insurance Scheme.

The company also refuted claims that the workers were being prevented from communicating with their families in India, saying that the company is paying a large sum of money for Internet service.

EKAA HRIM Earth Resources Management said food and accommodation were not substandard.

It declined to discuss whether compensation would be provided to a former worker who lost four fingers while on duty at the quarry. 

Meanwhile, Mr Persaud said company officials lodged a formal complaint at the Bartica Police Station alleging that Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed took the workers from the quarry site at Batavia.

“We’ve since made a report to the Bartica Police Station that they’re missing,” he said.