Dear Editor,
As a Guyanese living abroad, I am writing in response to the article “Five percent wages hike ‘scandalous'” which highlighted the worsening conditions that my fellow Guyanese face. I applaud Mr. Andrew Garnett, president of the GTUC, for addressing these issues in a measured and rational manner. Furthermore, I hope that the authorities and all those involved can engage in critical and constructive dialogue with the members of the GTUC in order to achieve must-needed social justice.
The Guyanese government and authorities must take the necessary steps to secure the economic, political and social liberty of all its citizens and honour the democratic process.
First, in order for Guyana to develop economically and become a progressive player in the economic global order, the nation needs a properly skilled and well-paid workforce in conjunction with developing locally-owned industries to encourage the growth of productive forces and capital. Guyana, on the other hand, has suffered from increasing emigration and ‘brain drain’ due to the deteriorating national situation. People need economic incentives if they are to be encouraged to remain in Guyana. Hence, Mr. Garnett’s points need to be seriously and urgently addressed by all those responsible so as to bring about immediate change for the poor but worthy wage-workers of Guyana.
Second, it is extremely distressing to read of the “unsustainable exploitation of our forest resources”. Guyana suffers in innumerable ways through this system of log exportation by Asian logging companies. Apart from the natural devastation, loss of animal habitats and negative impact on indigenous peoples, Guyanese are also being deprived of local jobs within the forestry sector and as a nation, we are seeing Asian companies economically profiting from our natural resources. How can this situation be allowed to continue? In this catastrophic era of global warming, this non-renewable rate of deforestation will only contribute to the worsening global climatic state through the natural ecological balance. Of course, Guyana also suffers materially when Asian corporations enjoy the benefits of this lawless removal and destruction of our forests.
What really angers me, however, is the employment of foreign unskilled workers at the expense of highly available Guyanese labourers. This deprivation of local jobs faced by Guyanese people results, I suspect, from the inhumane conditions afforded to foreign workers which Guyanese workers themselves would never willingly or silently accept. In fact, there has been a recent rising consciousness of the contemporary phenomenon of global slavery and according to the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, ratified by the UN General Assembly in 2000, this importation of foreign unskilled persons constitutes one such example of human trafficking in persons. In the November/December 2006 publication of the Foreign Affairs Journal, Ethan B Kapstein, in his enlightening essay “The New Global Slave Trade “reveals how the process of economic globalization has fuelled a rise in the intentional trafficking of humans, which is usually supported by national governments.
As Kapstein states: “In order to thrive, the slave trade requires the direct or indirect involvement of national governments, at both the source and the destination. Since profits are high, slavers have plenty of money to pay off government officials.”
It is therefore imperative that the Guyanese government and related authorities assume responsibility and accountability for this alleged illegal influx of foreign workers. This trafficking of labourers needs to cease immediately along with the foreign harvesting of natural resources, especially since Guyana possesses its own abundant supply of local workers. The Guyanese government needs to stop supporting this foreign labour importation, but rather place this issue at the top of its political agenda.
In conclusion, all these crises that the Guyanese people suffer need to be prioritized by the government and related authorities in dialogue with the GTUC in order to promote national economic growth and development while actively implementing and upholding the rights, freedoms and security of Guyanese citizens.
Yours faithfully,
M. Shankar