“We are fed up”- M&CC security guards

Jul 01, 2013 News

-backlog of overtime money still to be paid
-workers have to choose between years of service gratuity and pension
-complain of not being represented by Union

Over $100,000 owed to individual City Hall security guards for overtime labour since 2011

As officials of City Hall continue to complain of being cash-strapped, workers attached to the council are still finding it difficult to maintain themselves and family, not just because they receive a minimum wage, but because on many occasions they receive none at all.
“For how long will we continue like this?” one worker asked. Another posited that for too long, the subordinates of the City Council of Georgetown are being treated with much unfairness and disrespect.
Just recently, a few security guards visited the office of this publication to complain of not receiving payments for their overtime labour.
It was explained that overdue payments are from December of 2011 to March of this year, and would amount to over $100,000 per person. It was only after workers increased pressure on City Hall authorities, that some of them were paid their overtime money for April last, to present.
“No back pay money has been given to us as yet. Is only from April this year that these people start paying us for our overtime, and we need the rest of our monies. It is unfair to us. We are poor people struggling to make ends meet, and they are robbing us of an honest livelihood,” one security guard said.
When asked why they continue to work overtime despite not being paid, the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) employees noted that they kept going based on the promises that were made to them.
“They always keep telling us that we will get our money soon, and we, the ones who they depend on every dime, continue to work based on that. We toiling all day, hoping that maybe this week or the next, we get our money,” another guard noted.
This newspaper was also told that even if an employee decides not to work on a weekend or holiday, he or she would receive a suspension notice warning that should they be in receipt of three such notices, he or she would be dismissed from their jobs.
“This is real disrespect and eye pass. They weren’t paying us, but yet if we weren’t working, we would’ve gotten fired,” the guard added.
In addition to this, the employees complained that their gratuities are being sabotaged. According to them, the problem lies where workers are being made to choose either their pension, or their years of service gratuity. This was not supposed to be the case, as the workers are entitled to both monies.
“There it is again, we are being disrespected and robbed. The pension is taken out of our wages as a saving for us when we retire, and the gratuity is paid to us for our years of service. Now they are only giving us one of the two, and that is wrong. By right, the pension scheme is our hard earned money that them de taxing from us all the time. This is more than wrong. We need all of our money from city hall. We are fed up,” the employee of several years said.
The workers are also claiming that the Guyana Labour Union is doing nothing to ensure that M&CC workers are treated fairly.
When contacted yesterday, the Local Government Minister, Ganga Persaud explained that workers would have to take private action against the Council, since the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development cannot issue any sanctions.
Attempts to get a comment from the Mayor, Hamilton Green proved futile.

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Caption: Over $100,000 owed to individual City Hall security guards for overtime labour since 2011

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