The Guyana government on Thursday urged the growing Chinese business community to adhere to the country’s labour laws which have now been translated into Chinese.

Labour Minister, Dr. Nankishore Gopaul presented copies of the Restaurants Act, Shops Act, Licensed Premises and Conditions of Employment Act and the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act in the Chinese Language to the executive of the Chinese Association.

Chinese entities mostly involved in the importation, wholesale and retail of clothing and household effects, employ nationals of the Asian country and Guyanese.

Addressing a well attended meeting at the Association’s Brickdam headquarters, the Chief Labour and Occupational Safety and Health Officer, Charles Ogle said the decision to discuss the labour laws to ensure that all parties appreciate and understand the law.

“We have had a couple of complaints and there is always misunderstanding because of the language barrier but we want to help you and that is the reason why we have translated some of our labour laws into Chinese,” he said.

Most of the attendees could have hardly heard the opening remarks by key speakers because of the absence of a public address system.

In stating that there are prescribed hours of work for restaurant and shops, Ogle observed that many businesses are opening “long hours” but “the workers must not work long hours.”

Provisions are also made in the law for a lunch break, overtime, annual leave and a weekly day-off.

The President of the Chinese Association, Mr Shilong Wong echoed the sentiments by the Guyana government and urged Chinese business owners to familiarize themselves with the labour laws.

“The Chinese Association also wish that all Chinese businesses will take some time to learn better the regulations and laws to bring about a better understanding and to do better business,” said Wong.

The Labour Minister underlined the important role of the Chinese in developing Guyana. He praised that foreign community for always being willing to accept recommendations to improve the labour climate whenever the need arises.

Now that the laws have been translated from English, the minister expected that the number of complaints would dwindle to zero. “We hope that with the translation of these key laws, there will be a complete reduction if not elimination of problems at the workplace,” he said.

He said Guyana’s modern labour laws are not draconian but fair laws that contain expectations of management and workers which, if observed, “the workplace would be an enjoyable place.”

The Labour Minister later told reporters that government did not see the need to translate the labour laws into Hindi because authorities have found that unlike Brazilians and Chinese, Indian national understand English.