Several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) will tomorrow be marching through the streets of the city calling for “a living income” for unrecognised caregivers and low-waged workers in Guyana.
The protest march has been organised by Red Thread and is endorsed by several other groups, including the Grassroots Women Across Race, Red Thread Domestic Violence and Rape Survivors Self-Help Group and University of Guyana Students for Social Change and the National Women’s Organisation of the Guyana Presbyterian Church. The demonstration will begin at 8:30 am at the corner of Regent and Cummings streets, after which the demonstrators will join in the Labour Day march, a release from the organisers said.
“We all are calling on caregivers to join us in demanding a living income for mothers and all other caregivers, education for our children that gives them time to be children and an end to violence against women and children,” a release from the organisers said.
“We want better pay, improved working conditions and protection for low-waged workers, including domestics, cleaners, security guards, shop assistants, restaurant workers, and bartenders. They are often taken advantage of by unscrupulous employers and forced to accept abuse and slavish conditions if they want to keep their jobs,” the release added.
Red Thread member Joy Marcus told Stabroek News that this is the third such march being organised by the group. However, this year the body has aimed to reach a wider cross-section and hence more groups and persons have come onboard. She said that as is usually the case, protestors will join the large labour march but will leave at the point the various factions split to attend the rallies at the different locations.
