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Boast of economic growth is meaningless
…in the midst of rampant injustices – GTUC
The Guyana Trade Union Congress (GTUC) has expressed in its New Year missive that the government’s “boast of economic growth is meaningless in the midst of rampant injustices, inequities and pervasive poverty.”
General Secretary of the GTUC Lincoln Lewis
According to the GTUC, the widening gap between the haves and have-nots and decline in a real living wage must be a matter of national importance. The GTUC stated that as the government remains in contempt of the Rule of Law, the strong and mighty confiscate wealth while justice for those aggrieved remains non-existent.
“In 2014 Guyana stands isolated in the Region as the nation where its government carries out an active policy to transgress citizens’ rights. Workers are expected to give their best in an environment of hostile employers, including the government who is not only a violator but also aids and abets local and foreign employers” said GTUC.
According to the GTUC, the “15-year agitation by retired workers of the telecommunications industry to resolve their retirement income begs attention from government who not only has premier responsibility to the elderly but more so, this matter has its genesis in the formerly state-owned Guyana Telecommunication Corporation.”
The Union body also expressed that government’s refusal to address years of grievances of bauxite workers employed by the state and foreign owned Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated (BCGI), citing the “12 year imposition of wages and salaries in the public service are violations of ILO Conventions 87 and 98, and Article 147 of the Constitution are too noted.”
The GTUC said that it stands in solidarity with the Guyana Local Government Officers Union’s (GLGOU) over “the Local Government Minister appointment of the Town Clerk to the Georgetown municipality in usurpation of the Council’s authority to identify and recommend the person to fill the vacancy” and is optimistic that a member of the Union has brought the issue to the Court’s attention.
The Trade Union Corporation said that it is encouraged by the appointment of Attorney-at-law Winston Moore as Ombudsman and “calls on the administration to ensure the office gets the needed resources to ensure functionality, because any appointment absent requisite resources is tantamount to making the office ineffective/vacant.”
The GTUC also calls for the appointments and proper funding of all constitutional offices “which is a critical component to good governance. Notable among them are the Public Procurement Commission, Integrity Commission, Ethnic Relations Commission, Human Rights Commission, Public Service Appellate Tribunal and the Police Service Commission.”
According to the GTUC, the Leader of the Opposition is a constitutional office yet it continues to be denied state funding to carry out its duties “even as the non-constitutional foundation created by the First Lady is given state funding to manage its interest.” These injustices must be corrected said the GTUC.
GTUC said it takes note of President Ramotar’s New Year’s Message and “expects him to comply with the said things he asked of others. As the nation’s Chief Public Servant and Head of State, the President is expected to set the tone by which the society will operate.
“Guyana faces problems of epic proportions and solving them requires all hands on deck to repel the forces trampling workers/citizens, violating laws, manufacturing divisions among groups for self-serving end, and denying the people what’s rightly theirs.
“Guyanese deserve better and must refuse to settle for less!” said the Trade Union Corporation.
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