MPs to debate re-establishment of Labour Ministry

Jul 08, 2018 News

The People’s Progressive party (PPP) is pushing for the re-establishment of a Ministry of Labour and the issue is up for debate in the National Assembly this week.
Trade union leaders have been calling for the re-establishment of the Ministry which was done away with when the Coalition secured Government at the 2015 General Elections. President David Granger has so far resisted those calls.
A motion tabled by Opposition Member of Parliament, Gillian Burton-Persaud, seeks to have the National Assembly call on Government of Guyana to support the call of the joint trade union movement and restore the Ministry of Labour to its pre-2015 status, as soon as possible.
The Motion from the former Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) leader stated that there existed a Ministry of Labour before the General Elections of May, 2015 and after those elections the Government established a Ministry of Social Protection, headed by a Senior Minister.
Further, the Motion notes that on the establishment of the Ministry of Social Protection, the Ministry was reduced to a Department within the Ministry of Social Protection and headed by a Junior Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection;
The Motion points out that on May 1, 2018, at the joint rally of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) and the Federation of Independent Trades Union of Guyana (FITUG) the call was made for a Motion to be laid in the National Assembly in relation to the re-establishment of the Ministry of Labour.
Trade unionist Lincoln-Lewis has stated that the absence of a Ministry of Labour is a disservice to Guyanese and the historical development of the society.
Concomitant with identifying problems within society is also the necessity of moving to solve them through policy, laws and programmes to secure real change.
The ILO has 189 Conventions. As a member, Guyana is duty bound to ensure the conventions are implemented and policed through programmes and law. Of these conventions, about 16 attend to Social Protection. This leaves more than 170 to be attended to, of which seven are considered Fundamental Rights. This reality has historically been attended to by a Ministry of Labour that treated with all in equal measures.
“The absence of focusing on Labour as a ministry denies recognition of our historical struggles, achievements and continued pursuit for the creation of a just society, represented in the philosophical guidance of these conventions which are intimately intertwined to our social, cultural, economic and political advancement,” Lewis has stated.
He noted that the Trade Union Movement is not asking for a new ministry, but the Movement is asking for equal treatment.

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