Protest action by workers of the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) saw immediate results as the secretary of the conservancy turned up with payment and officials from the Agriculture Ministry offered a concerned ear.
Yesterday, 13 workers, led by Norris Witter General President of the General Workers Union (GWU) held a peaceful protest in front of the Ministry of Agriculture on Regent Street.
Witter, explaining the protest action, said, “The management has been consistently paying wages late. In many instances, the late payment exceeds three, four, five fortnights.” According to Witter, yesterday marked the second fortnight that the workers have gone without pay.
The non-payment of a three per cent wage increase last year, and a draft of collective agreement for negotiation which was submitted but not addressed were also among the reasons the men were protesting.
“Further, given the nature of work they are required to camp out in the conservancy. Reports are the housing and living and working conditions are deplorable,” Witter said. It is the responsibility of the EDWC to provide housing and assistance for the provision of meals, he added.
According to Witter, the union has been requesting permission to visit the conservancy and inspect the living and working conditions for the past two years but that request was never granted. Witter also said that for two years snake bite kits were not provided to workers, who have to work in snake infested areas.
One protester, Phillip Peter, who has been working at the conservancy for 16 years, said in the past two fortnights he has killed five rattlesnakes. He then showed a picture of one of the snakes that they had caught some two days ago.
Meanwhile Peter has this to say of his late payment, “It get out a hand we can’t tek it no more!”
Another protester, Abdool Latiff who says he has been working for 20 years at the conservancy explained that the living quarters house five to six men who have to endure cockroaches, ants and bat droppings. “The living quarter nah deh to standard,” he said.
As the group was speaking with the press, secretary of the conservancy Samuel La Fleur showed up stating that he had the money to pay the workers. “We always listen to them. We ready to talk and do business,” he told the media pointing to a haversack which he said contained the money to pay the workers.
When asked why the workers were not paid on time he said that there was a cash flow problem. Shortly after, an official from the Ministry of Agriculture came outside and extended an invitation to Witter and some of his union members to have a discussion with him. He stated that the minister was out of the country, but he was acting on behalf of the minister to come to an agreement.
Witter was reluctant to accept the invitation. However later yesterday when this newspaper contacted the chairman of the board of the EDWC Lionel Wordsworth, he said the workers had consented to the meeting.
Present at the meeting were Human Resources Manager Elvis Jordon and La Fleur. The workers accepted their pay and Wordsworth said that disciplinary action will be taken against the officers responsible for the late payment of the wages.
He said too that a commitment has been made to properly equip the living quarters of the workers by a certain date. Further, the draft of the collective agreement for negotiation is being reviewed by the board which will then pronounce on it.
