Staff of the Guyana National Industrial Company (GNIC) yesterday morning staged a picketing exercise outside of the company’s Lombard Street office, calling for better wages and improved working conditions.
The group consisted mainly of dock workers, who said that they were not only poorly paid but were forced to work in less than favourable conditions.
Stabroek News understands that the workers’ union the Guyana Labour Union (GLU) and the company’s management have been negotiating for some time, but nothing satisfactory has come out of the deliberations.
By midday, however, staff had quit their exercise and this newspaper was told that some of them had resumed work. Stabroek News understands that the protest took place without the support of their bargaining unit. Repeated efforts to contact Carvil Duncan, General Secretary of the union yesterday, were unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, efforts to obtain a comment from management on the issue were also unsuccessful, as they said that they were not prepared to speak at the time.
However, Stabroek News understands that the company’s management has scheduled a meeting for later this month with the affected parties.
