Maybe Guyana is second only to China for cruel exploitation of labour

Feb 27, 2018 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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Integrated Security Services is in the news, facing serious accusations of non-payment to some of its security personnel, as reported in this newspaper two Sundays ago. I am not going to enumerate the complaints I received three years ago from guards employed by Integrated, since I am in no mood to face a lawsuit. But at that time I called the owner, Mr. Khan, and he did respond to the complaints.
Last December, I received more accusations from Integrated employees. All were guards who work at State buildings. I telephone the Minister of Education, since the complaints came from guards doing service for that ministry. The Minister was not there, but her secretary indentified a gentleman I could speak to, because he was the person responsibility for assessing performance of the guard service.
Last Thursday, I called the Minister again. I wanted to talk to her directly about the complaints I am in possession of. Again her secretary put me on to Mr. Loknauth, deputy to the Permanent Secretary. It was the eve of Mashramani and I couldn’t get anyone at the Ministries of Education, Communities and Public Infrastructure. It appears that the day before Mashramani, the public sector doesn’t work.
The secretary of the PS for Public Infrastructure was at work. She was very helpful. None of the engineers could be contacted. They have cell phones which the ministries gave them. I also called their personal cell lines too. No one answered. On February 22, Mashramani fever hit the ministries hard, I mean real hard. Not to worry; it is the same in Trinidad at Carnival time and it happens all the time in Greece and Italy.
I am going to leave the discussion about Integrated here, because I don’t want a libel suit, suffice it to say that over the past two weeks, I left about three messages with my cell number for Mr. Khan, but to date he has not got in touch. I get heart-breaking complaints about exploitation by private security companies quite often. They are about cruel mistreatment of labour. The list includes no transmission of NIS deductions, no overtime payment, request for sexual favours made to female staff.
Most of the persons speaking to me are women. Women guards are badly treated by these private guard services. The exploitation cries out for remedy. But our “coruscating,” energetic women movements never seem to show an interest. And guess why? Guyana is a boiling cauldron of relentless class hypocrisy. These exploited guards are not white-collar workers, lawyers, doctors, journalists, accountants, business managers, senior public servants, academic etc.
None of our women/feminist groups are going to crusade against exploitation of female security guards. Guess why? Who cares about them? After all, they are just guards, without status, substance or wealth. Some of our women groups cannot get their fifteen minutes of fame fighting for these guards. They select more high profile cases.
Tomorrow, if a female business manager is harassed for sex in the office by the male boss and she goes public, traffic will come to a halt in downtown Georgetown. All the fame-seekers will be out with their placards outside the financial house, denouncing the Guyanese version of Harvey Weinstein. They will be on television and their faces in the print media. If a woman guard cries sexual harassment, she is on her own. Who cares? Who knows her? Aren’t you sure she isn’t some low life? That is Guyana for you.
Our indefatigable women groups said not a word when a teenager was sentenced to six months for crossing into Suriname illegally from Guyana, an action that started long before the present generation was born, and which was a common feature at Springlands for almost a hundred years before it was regularized last year. If, for some reason, a lady lawyer or female journalist was arrested by the police for the same action, that Berbice magistrate would have to leave town, because the demonstrators outside the courts would have wanted his blood.
I haven’t done the research, but I guess Guyana is second only to China for the sadistic exploitation of labour, a topic that made Karl Marx a name civilization will forever mention. Everywhere I go in this country I get complaints about employers mistreating labour. Just last week I got two complaints about BK International. About four years ago, I spoke to BK Tiwari about this, but aggrieved workers are still complaining, as is the case with Survival Supermarket on Sheriff Street.  By the way, guess who is a consultant to BK? A man who is planning to run for president in 2020. Ramon (Rambo) Gaskin.                                

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