The Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) says that the main focus at its Triennial Delegates Conference this year will be consideration of strong protest action since in its view the government has reneged on a number of agreements made.
This year’s conference is billed for October 25th through 26th at the Joseph Pollydore Hall, Critchlow Labour College, Woolford Ave, Thomas Lands.
The conference is being held under the theme “Intensifying the struggle for workers rights, social justice and a better quality of life”.
During a media briefing yesterday, Acting General Secretary of the GTUC Norris Witter pointed out that since the last conference which was held in 2005 the government has neglected most of their proposals but moreover it has gone back on agreements made.
He said that after the conference which will address several issues that had been drawn to the government’s attention, if results are not seen the country will see numerous protest actions.
Among some of the issues the GTUC said they feel strongly about are the withdrawal of state advertisements from Stabroek News and the dismissal of the cook from President’s College after students protested about the quality of water at the institution. On these two issues, the GTUC said, they stand ready and willing with other like-minded organizations to take to the streets to protest.
Meanwhile, Witter said that the implementation of the Value Added Tax (VAT) will also be high on the agenda for the 250 delegates expected for the conference. The acting general secretary said that the GTUC is calling for the repeal of VAT, which he said is “inhumane.” According to Witter, at a recent forum Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh had said that the implementation of VAT was not responsible for the increase in the cost of living locally.
“While our Minister is telling us this yet another government institution (the Bureau of Statistics) has released data which shows that from January to now there has been a tremendous increase in the Consumer Price Index,” Witter pointed out.
He also disclosed to the media that the GTUC had been given a hint that GPL is moving to increase consumer tariffs. Witter said that if this is done protest action by the union will be the order of the day since it will just be more (financial pressure) for the Guyanese public to deal with.
“We are tired of seeing our Guyanese being exploited and nothing is being done by those that have the power so we will take to the streets