Latest update November 29th, 2024 1:00 AM
Sweeper-cleaners stage picketing exercise in Region Five
The protest on Tuesday
Sweeper-cleaners from Region Five on Tuesday, last, staged protest action outside the RDC office in Fort Wellington, West Coast of Berbice.
The workers are claiming that since they are paid by the Government of Guyana, it is only fair that they be paid the minimum wage, instead of a meagre 37,000 dollars per month. Whatever their conditions of work, they want changes be made quickly so as to bring them on par with cleaners in other Government departments.
According to representatives from the GPSU who were on the ground, and part of the protest action, it is unfair for this category of workers to be paid way below the minimum wage while their counterparts in other government sectors are paid differently.
The union claimed that the picketing exercise was a last resort, after all other options had been exhausted.
There are many workers who have been in the system for a number of years, but would not enjoy NIS pension, although they would have had the years of service required to have made enough contributions to qualify for such benefits. At present the workers, all of them female, do not enjoy maternity benefits, neither are they qualified for other NIS benefits.
There is word that the authorities in Region Four have taken steps toward improving the working conditions for the workers in that region, and the workers in Region Five are very disappointed that steps have not been taken to bring relief to the same category of worker in another administrative region.
The Region Five workers are hoping that their actions would have conveyed the desired message, and that there would be a speedy resolution of the matter.
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