AS GUYANA prepares to celebrate Labour Day today, prominent labour leaders have spoken out against complacency and disregard by certain trade unions for workers’ rights, and against the Opposition for attempting to stall development.

President of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG), Carvil Duncan, General Secretary of the Guyana General and Agricultural Workers’ Union (GAWU), Seepaul Narine, and past President of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), Gillian Burton, were at the time speaking on a special programme that focused on implications of the budget cuts for the labour force, on the National Communications Network (NCN).
Burton called on trade union leaders to take stock of their role, which she said goes beyond championing workers’ causes. She explained that issues such as the national budget affect every citizen, regardless of whether they work in the private or public sector; and as such, it is crucial for them (trade union leaders) to ensure that this process does not jeopardise workers’ rights.
The $31B Opposition-imposed cuts to the 2013 national budget on the other hand, not only seek to hinder development, but also threaten job security for hundreds of workers by removing financing from agencies.
“Trade union leaders must be more proactive, the cuts were made in critical areas that are linked to the country’s development…the very politicians who promised people a good life are the same people who are keeping it from them, simply because someone else is offering it,” Burton said.
Meanwhile, the GAWU General Secretary spoke of the positive elements of the budget all of which, he said, were designed with people in mind.
Narine said that while people may understand the politics of what has been playing out in the Parliament of Guyana, politicians cannot hold citizens at ransom as part of their political gimmicks. He expressed his full endorsement of the position that has since been taken by President Donald Ramotar to take the necessary recourse to restore the funds.
 
Lost their militancy?
Speaking specifically to the cuts meted out to the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Inc., FITUG’s President said that many people do not yet realise the impact this can have on their everyday lives, if the allocation is not restored.
He explained that GPL would have no choice but to lay off workers who are employed under the expansion project that will have to be halted.
“I cannot see any justification for this cut, questions were answered in Parliament and yet these cuts were made…I am disappointed at my trade union colleagues, their silence means that they have either lost their militancy or they are supportive of the cuts; and if that is the case, then they ought not to be representing workers,” Duncan posited.
He explained that more housing schemes are coming into being; more people are building houses now because of the systems that have been put in place to make the acquisition of housing loans easier. As such, GPL needs the extra financing to boost its current generation capacity to service the new customers on the national grid.
“Are we to go back to the days of darkness? This is the question that the nation must take into consideration. If it is that, we must walk the streets and protest the cuts, then so be it…trade union leaders must be blamed for being complacent and unconcerned to allow this to happen,” the FITUG head asserted.
Burton said that most, if not all industries live and thrive on electricity; as such, an unreliable supply of electricity would mean loss of production, which would in turn mean loss of profits and this would give rise to job loss.
 
Call to workers
Burton called on workers to realise the threats to their livelihoods and to stand up against the atrocities that are being meted out by the Opposition. She said, “we cannot be held to ransom by a few.”
Burton also called on citizens to pay keener attention to the manifestos that they are presented with by political parties, which always include the promise of better services and infrastructure.
She said that the Opposition needs to recognise their role in the mass migration and brain drain that they so often blame government for. She explained that the political games and the instability that they are creating are frustrating young professionals.
“They are taking away the future of the young people. They are pennywise, in that they know what the country needs; but pound foolish because when they have the opportunity to make these decisions for the betterment of the people, they vote against it,” Burton emphasised.
With regard to the removal of funds for the Specialty Hospital, Duncan said that it is difficult to understand what may have informed this decision. He lamented that, “they are using that one seat majority to stagnate the whole nation.”
 
Vengeance politics
As it relates to the budget cut to the allocation for the transport sector, Burton said that the Opposition has essentially, “sabotaged the country’s development, killed the labour force, and raped the private sector.”
She said that this year’s budget cuts were a bold attempt at stymieing development, and explained that the Opposition is playing “vengeance politics” by taking away workers’ ability to provide for themselves. This way, they will blame the government for their sufferings.
“…your vendetta will not hurt the government, it is the common man who will suffer, many of whom support you,” she reminded the Opposition.
Narine agreed that the Opposition has used its majority in the House to do an injustice to Guyanese. He called on both the AFC and APNU to put the country first and avoid being recorded in history as the people who blocked development in Guyana.
 
Height of hypocrisy
Meanwhile, Duncan, in his closing remarks, said that the Opposition has promised their supporters to provide some of the very things that they have chopped from the budget. This, he said, is the height of hypocrisy.
He reminded that they must suppress their differences and let the interest of the people of Guyana be paramount, not the other way around.
Burton concluded in a similar tone, stating that in the interest of the constituencies that they represent, they must revisit their decision. She also stated that unless their manifesto promises were mere “window dressing”, they should make every effort to ensure that Guyanese citizens enjoy the benefits they were promised.
Labour Day will be celebrated today, with workers in the traditional parade through the streets of Georgetown, dressed in red and white, under the banner of their particular trade union in a show of solidarity for workers’ rights. (GINA)