Following his re-election as chairman of OWOS, Marciano Hellings wants to quickly return to substantive matters. Finalising the current collective labour agreement, a new wage structure and restoring unity within the trade union are at the top of his agenda.
Marciano Hellings wants to use his new mandate at the Ogem Werknemers Organisatie Suriname (OWOS) primarily to finalise matters which, according to him, have been left pending for too long. The re-elected chairman says the ongoing negotiations on the collective labour agreement must be concluded as soon as possible. After that, the board wants to work on a new wage structure for employees of Energie Bedrijven Suriname. According to Hellings, that matter can no longer be postponed. At the same time, he wants to restore relations within the union after an election campaign in which tensions ran high.
Hellings once again received the confidence of the majority of voting OWOS members. According to the results reported by Starnieuws, his Team Renewable received 586 votes, compared to 325 votes for Team Bondru. Hellings therefore remains at the head of the workers’ organisation at EBS. Team Bondru has accepted the result and indicated that it will not go to court again.
The elections were held on Friday, September 11, following a run-up involving several legal proceedings over the electoral process. Key News previously reported that 1,009 employees were eligible to vote and that voting took place at various locations across the country. There were also prior accusations of interference by EBS management, allegations raised by Hellings during the campaign.
Grim contest ahead of OWOS elections
The campaign was tense. The sitting board and Team Bondru faced each other several times in legal proceedings in the run-up to the vote. Shortly before the elections, a shooting incident also took place in which someone was injured. That incident increased tensions surrounding the elections, but no evidence has been presented that Team Bondru as an organisation was involved in the incident.
After the vote, Team Bondru stated that the shooting incident may have influenced voting behaviour. A candidate from the team believes Hellings used the incident to his advantage in the media, which, according to her, could have created the impression that Team Bondru was involved. Hellings rejected that interpretation. “Whoever makes a claim must prove it,” he responded.
The collective labour agreement, wage structure and unity within OWOS are now at the top of the agenda.
Marciano Hellings sees clear choice by members
According to Marciano Hellings, the result mainly shows that a majority of members retain confidence in his course. He says members had already indicated before the latest events that they did not support Team Bondru’s direction. The chairman therefore does not see the election result as the consequence of a single incident, but as a broader assessment of the union’s performance.
Team Bondru points out that the list had to secure support from at least 20 percent of the membership before it could participate in the elections. According to the team, the final result shows that not everyone who supported the candidacy actually voted for Bondru. Nevertheless, the team wants to respect the result.
No new lawsuit after result
Team Bondru says it will not go to court again over the election result. However, the team wants to await the police investigation into the shooting incident. The opposing candidate stresses that no one should be accused without evidence and that it is up to the police to determine exactly what happened.
Despite the defeat, Team Bondru wants to remain together as a group. Members of both camps are colleagues within EBS and will have to continue working together on the workplace. According to the team, the campaign also made clear what qualities various members possess. A future form of cooperation is therefore not ruled out.
Unity within OWOS becomes new priority
Hellings says he is particularly concerned about the divisions that arose within OWOS during the campaign. According to him, internal fragmentation weakens the position of employees vis-à-vis the employer. Several members of Team Bondru had previously worked alongside him within the trade union, which makes him regret the current estrangement even more.
Team Renewable is also calling for the restoration of mutual relations. A board member says the hard-fought election contest must now be concluded and that representing employees’ interests must once again take centre stage. In doing so, the board wants to maintain a clear separation between the role of management and that of the trade union.
Marciano Hellings focuses attention on collective labour agreement and wage structure
The priority for the re-elected board now lies with employment conditions. Key News reported in April that OWOS has long been calling for attention to the collective labour agreement and to personnel and organisational issues within EBS. The union also stated at the time that the wage structure has been a major bottleneck for years. In the run-up to the elections, Hellings again indicated that better wages, secondary employment benefits and working conditions remain important issues.
With the elections now behind them, attention is shifting from the contest for the board to the question of how quickly concrete results can be achieved for EBS employees. The upcoming negotiations on the collective labour agreement and the wage structure will have to show whether the re-elected board can turn its new mandate into agreements with management, while work is also being done to restore calm within OWOS.
