City Hall concerned over GLU strike call

Nov 04, 2008 News

“We have made it clear: no work, no pay!” said City Mayor Hamilton Green during a press briefing in his office yesterday, when he faced the media.

He said that the Guyana Labour Union, through its General Secretary Carvil Duncan, has threatened to have municipal staffers engage industrial action.

The GLU represents more that 60 per cent of the municipal staffers, and according to the City Mayor, he has since learnt that Mr Duncan has ordered a ‘go slow’ in certain sections of the municipality. This is a subtle form of industrial action, Mayor Green said.

He noted that while industrial action is likely to severely affect the operations of the municipality, there has so far been no such report.

According to Mayor Green, the instigation of industrial action is rooted in the ongoing arbitration process for increased payment for municipal workers.

The mayor reported that when the two parties (the municipality and the union) considered arbitration, the union had proposed a one-man mediator while the Council had proposed a panel.

But, according to the mayor, the law as he knows it has not changed. He pointed out that only if there is a deadlock that a single individual, in the person of the Chief Labour Officer, is allowed to intervene and resolve that deadlock.

“Mr Duncan, in his wisdom, seems unable to comprehend the niceties of the law, and has threatened us if we do not change our position, as though he is the new imperial master, he will call a strike,” Mayor Green related.

And since the Council has failed to respond to the General Secretary’s proposal, Mayor Green said, a letter, dated October 30, was sent to the municipality by the GLU General Secretary stating that industrial action looms as a result.

“I hope the workers involved will not be fooled by him, because I don’t think he is operating in their best interest. Duncan is straddling two horses — the wellbeing of the workers and, it appears to me, that he is serving his new-found masters. I don’t know in which direction they will take him…”

According to Mayor Green, the “inappropriate attitudes” displayed by Duncan could in fact have very serious consequences for maintaining the integrity and wellbeing of the city in circumstances where the Council has been trying to sustain some financial equilibrium to pay both the workers and maintain a minimum set of standards.

“We face a situation that is not new. Our revenue base is still inadequate for us to maintain a proper rhythm within the Georgetown municipality. We have many responsibilities, and over the past several years, because of the tight economic situation, we have not been able to maintain even the basic repair work at City Hall.”

Further, the mayor divulged, the municipality has not been able to maintain the markets under its purview, and has not effectively undertaken road works in the city. He added that there is no way that the municipality could assign all of its finances to the paying of wages.

He said that, over the past 18 months, the Council had taken affirmative action to deal with the relationship between the money garnered by the municipality staff and the works that are required to be done.

The mayor said that the municipality, as a result, had decided that there was need for restructuring — a process which he noted has been proving to be a tremendous challenge and has since led him to seek the intervention of the Minister of Local Government, Mr Kellawan Lall.

“I met with the minister on Friday and I extracted from him an undertaking that he would lend us a qualified officer or person to help us in the final stage of restructuring,” Mayor Green related.

“Since Mr Duncan is insisting, it appears to us that we will have to advance to the next stage of restructuring, and his sponsors, through the minister, have publicly and privately criticised the municipality for being overstaffed.”

According to Mayor Green, while the municipality will continue to try to pay workers their wages in a timely fashion, in order for it to pay the workers an increase, some staffers may very well have to become redundant.

And should the Council staffers engage a full blown strike, Mayor Green maintained that they will not be paid if they do not perform, adding that the municipality will also seek to engage alternative plans to fulfill its mandate of maintaining the city.

Latest News

City Hall concerned over GLU strike call

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | November, 20th, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Rutherford gets big payday from Gujarat Titans at IPL 2025 Mega...

Roach and Seales star as West Indies close in on...

Delroy Tyrrell continues to excel at Oneonta...

Ramdass Royals Crowned Champions of the Inaugural...

KFC Guyana distance self from delayed payment of...

Ravens and Royals ready for epic Elite 16 final...

Features/Columnists

A call for more cultural centres

Rising Gun Crimes in the Caribbean: Urgent Action required by all

Political constants: opportunism, ambition or betrayal

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

City Hall concerned over GLU strike call

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | November, 20th, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]