Saturday, January 27, 2007

by Ivan Cairo
Caribbean Net News Suriname Correspondent
Email: ivan@caribbeannetnews.com

PARAMARIBO, Suriname: Operations at IAMGold’s Rosebel gold mine in Suriname have been suspended since Thursday, after being hit by a strike, company officials confirmed.

IAMGold’s spokesman Roy van Aerde told reporters, that the management was caught off guard when the work stoppage was announced, since negotiations for a salary hike were continuing.

Currently only the security personnel are not on strike. All foreign employees, Canadians and Guyanese nationals, left the plant Friday heading for the capital.

The gate at the gold processing plant some 100 kilometers south of the capital Paramaribo, and all the roads to the open pit mine are barricaded with haul pack trucks and other heavy duty mining equipment.

In a press release IAMGold stated Friday that a number of unionised workers commenced an illegal strike and, as a result, production at the facility has been stopped temporarily. Rosebel is taking steps to seek an injunction to cease the illegal activity and will seek damages from the union for all losses, read the press release.

In the meantime, Rosebel's management has requested that employees voluntarily end the so-called illegal wotk stoppage and return to work.

According to union leader Errol Snijders, the union had a meeting with the workers on Thursday to inform them about the ongoing negotiations. Angered over the slow pace and the refusal of the management to meet their demands, the workers decided to go on strike immediately. The negotiations have been continuing now for over eight months.

Tension in the already explosive situation increased Friday after workers were threatened with firearms by a security guard, allegedly an officer of the Surinamese army. “If I was not at the plant to calm the workers, maybe there would have been fatalities”, said Snijders.

According to the union leader, the workers are willing to talk but not under the present conditions. Workers complain that, although army personnel are at the plant to guard the explosives that are being used in the mining operations, these officers are engaged in regular security duties, thus preventing others from finding a job as security guard at the plant.

In May 2006 the Rosebel gold mine was hit by a so-called illegal strike, when there also was no progress in salary talks. The Rosebel gold mine produces about 341,000 ounces of gold per year. The mining company is a subsidiary of the Toronto-based IAMGold Corporation. The financial impact on IAMGold is difficult to determine at this stage.

  Most popular articles: viewed, printed and e-mailed

  Printable version