GTUC concerns about outstanding agreements legitimate - APNU

GTUC concerns about outstanding agreements legitimate – APNU

Mar 03, 2014 News

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has taken note of a Guyana Trade Union Congress (GTUC) mandate that the opposition should not support the Anti Money Laundering Bill unless outstanding workers agreements are dealt with.

General Secretary of GTUC Lincoln Lewis

APNU’s Executive Member Joseph Harmon

The GTUC, through its General Secretary, had said that the opposition must be “told” that any support to the AML/CFT Bill by way of “vote, abstaining or absent from the National Assembly by any of its members will be construed by Labour as a calculated act of non-representation on the issues that affect the wider society.”
He further cautioned against any act by the opposition to pass a Bill without having the government respect “existing laws, implement outstanding agreements, and assent to outstanding bills would be seen by Labour as an act of treachery.”
“We are not urging them (opposition), we are telling them not to support any bill until such time that all these agreements are put in place. We are not concerned about the deadline, we are concerned about all the agreements you have signed with labour. They went to the Court and said they were going to reissue letters to start the arbitration and that was in 2012, and to date it has not been done. What assurance will this society get when this bill is passed that it will be implemented? So don’t tell me about the one that is coming, tell me about the one that exists!” Lewis stated.
In response, APNU’s Executive Member Joseph Harmon said that the opposition and GTUC have a fairly healthy relationship.
According to Harmon, APNU and the GTUC recently met at Office of the Leader of the Opposition on Hadfield Street.
“From time to time we will have…people having their own positions put forward, my understanding from the GTUC is that we should make one of our demands for passing the Bill the aspect of the RUSAL [Russian Aluminum] matter, we have engaged the GTUC on that matter and we continue to engage them on the matter. But as you recognize you cannot put a thousand issues on the table when you want something done, we have engaged with the GTUC and we will continue to engage with them and we have made that a very essential issue in our labour relations.”
Harmon further stressed that their Shadow Minister for Labour Mr. Basil Williams, has made it very clear that he is going to peruse that matter.
“In fact, he has been perusing it for many years…and he has been the foremost attorney in this matter in relation to the RUSAL dismissed employees.”
Harmon said that several years ago the People’s National Congress (PNC) had picketed in front of the Office of the Prime Minister, and moved a motion against Minister Nadir who was the Minister of Labour at that time.
“So we have always been very active in relation to our relationship to the GTUC, we respect them as a body representing labour and we will continue to respect them and we expect that there will always be a good working relationship, but like with everything it doesn’t always work the same smooth way, we don’t consider this to be any aberration whatsoever. It is a claim which I believe the GTUC has made and in their view a legitimate one which we have to take on board.”

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