-PNCR
The PNCR is urging workers to be steadfast and to appreciate that there is strength in workers’ unity.

In its Labour Day message, the party said “it is only a united trade union movement which can withstand the attacks against workers which undermine their welfare and standard of living.”

While extending greetings of solidarity, the party said it remained cognisant of what it termed a “continuing and concerted effort to roll back the gains achieved since the pioneering and foundational efforts of Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow and other stalwarts.”

It said that this May Day will be celebrated in an environment of extreme hostility engendered by the PPP/C government, which the party accused of striking divisions within the trade union body.

Commenting on the conditions of workers, the party said that they remain terribly underpaid and most live on the breadline.

“The arbitrarily imposed salary increases have been below the rate of inflation. Some workers still get little or no allowances and many operate in an environment of poor occupational health and safety standards,” the party stated.
It cited the Labour Minister Manzoor Nadir for what it termed his “callous disregard” for the plight of the bauxite workers in the dispute between the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. (BCGI) and the workers’ union.

The PNCR also recalled the withdrawal of the subvention for the Critchlow Labour College, saying it is affecting the education of workers.