The Federation of Indepen-dent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) in a press release on Saturday condemned what it called the “virtual takeover” by the PNCR of the march and rally organized by the Guyana Trades Union Congress, and the Federation said it will convene soon to consider the way forward.
FITUG, which said it represents the bulk of the nation’s workers from the vital economic sectors, deplored the character of the GTUC march and rally which “featured persons who were overwhelmingly non-workers.”
While respecting the rights of the GTUC to involve any Guyanese group in their public activities, FITUG added that “scores of the marchers were obviously party activists mobilized from as far as the West Coast of Berbice and across the West Demerara.
FITUG said further that “these individuals used the march to vent one party’s anti-government sentiments and to lead the unsavoury disrespect meted out to the Acting Head of State, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds when he attempted to participate in the GTUC rally.”
And the Federation asserted that “boorish behaviour in the presence of TUC leaders does no good to any genuine industrial cause which the TUC may wish to champion.”
Although the prime minister attended the event through an invitation his hosts did nothing to assuage the rude reception, FITUG charged.
The GTUC in its own wisdom, FITUG observed, shared its May Day platform with the NGO Red Thread and the PNCR, unlike in recent years when workers marched under the banners of their respective unions.
Meanwhile, FITUG in deploring the GTUC approach to May Day declared that as the movement representing a vast majority of Guyana’s workers, it will convene early to consider a definite way forward.
