By Alva Solomon

MEMBERS of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) and the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) will on Sunday be marching side by side in a move deemed historic by both sides. The last time members of both bodies walked together on May Day was in 1999.
At a joint press conference yesterday at the Critchlow Labour College, GTUC General-Secretary Lincoln Lewis noted that the common position was arrived at after discourses between the trade unions. “We believe, too, that this decision is in keeping with the posture of the trade union movement,” he said.
Present also at the press briefing was GTUC Vice-President, Norris Witter; General Secretary of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU) Seepaul Narine, who is also Treasurer of FITUG; and General-Secretary of the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE), Kenneth Joseph, who is also General-Secretary of FITUG.
Joseph said that the new position of the trade unions in Guyana came after some degree of “thinking long and hard on ways and means to strengthen ourselves and our members to deal with a new dispensation that our country is presently going through.”
COMMON POSITION
Narine said that the position arrived at is one which is common between the bodies. “We are fully in support of this agreement that we have and we are going to have our members in one rally, in one march,” he said.
According to the two bodies, the march will coincide with the spirit of this year’s Golden Jubilee celebrations.
Invitations have been extended to President David Granger, and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo. While Jagdeo is unable to make the event due to an overseas engagement, the PPP/C has indicated that its General-Secretary, Clement Rohee will be available.
This year’s march will commence at 07:30hrs on Sunday at Independence Square, commonly known as Parade Ground, and move west along Middle Street, into Main Street, heading south, east into D’Urban Street, north into Louisa Row, east into Brickdam, and north into Vlissengen Road.
The parade will then proceed west into Regent Street, north into Albert Street, and converge at the National Park tarmac.