Delivering the feature address at the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) May Day Rally at the National Park, Ramotar said the reason given by the AFC for the cuts to the Amaila Falls hydro-power project “baffles the hell out of me”.
Proclaiming himself to be stupefied by the cuts and the reasons given for them by the opposition, since those reasons cannot hold water, he also reiterated his declaration that he will do everything within his power to reverse the cuts. As he pilloried the opposition about the cuts, AFC Chairman Nigel Hughes was seated on the stage of the FITUG rally.
The President said May Day is a time for reflection not only of the gains and the failures of the country but also of where it wants to be in the future. He said workers must have a say in the direction that the country is to go.
He called on the workers to be proud of Guyana’s achievements.
“We have established a democratic state; we cannot have sustained social and economic development without political democracy,” he said.
“In my view, part of the reason for the division of the labour movement is that the movement is out of step with some of the realities of today,” he said, adding that the democracy the country has been able to achieve at the political level has not filtered through to the labour movement. He said the Guyana Trades Union Con-gress (GTUC) must democratise in order for there to be unity in the movement.
The President spoke of the drug trade and its ill-begotten cousin the gun trade, he pointed out that Guyana was not the market for the drugs and as such must be seen as the victim of this scourge. “We have to be our brother’s keepers,” he said.
The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana has adopted a resolution voicing its support for the 2013 budget and registering its displeasure at the $31 billion cuts, referring to them as irresponsible and callous. It said the connected consequences will be felt mainly by the Guyanese workers.
“It is the considered view that the budgetary cuts amounting to the substantial sum of $31.4 billion would have effectively denied our citizens access to cheaper electricity and denied the construction of a health facility,” said chairperson of the rally Kenneth Joseph. He added that the cuts to these programmes would be detrimental to the interest of the workers who would have been afforded employment upon the completion of the projects.
“This FITUG May Day 2013 Rally resolves as follows: to call on all to support all steps for the government to restore the amount cut from the budget and to extend solidarity to all workers affected by these cuts; and for FITUG to express in no uncertain terms to the opposition parties in Parliament our concern and total disagreement with the 2013 budget cuts,” said Joseph.
He reiterated the call for unity in the trades union movement and called for the unions to work together so that unions and their umbrella body would be stronger. “We should not sit down and allow attitudes of disunity to continue… You have the power to ensure that what the union leaders do is in the best interest of the workers and of Guyana,” he said.
President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and FITUG Vice President Komal Chand said the opposition offered no viable alternative when it made the budget cuts.
He said electricity charges are likely to increase and persons could become jobless because of the cuts to GPL, the specialty hospital, the airport expansion and the hydropower project.
Turning to sugar, Chand said Skeldon factory needs more cane to run efficiently and stated that it is GAWU’s position that the industry could do much better than it has been doing in recent times. He said the industry has the potential to achieve around 300,000 tonnes of sugar per year. Chand spoke of political figures using GuySuCo and its woes for their own agenda.
Carvil Duncan of the Guyana Labour Union said workers of Guyana must be prepared to protest the budget cuts if called upon to do so. He said there will be increased blackouts and spiked tariffs because of the cuts to GPL. He said too that GPL will have to send workers home as a result of the cuts.
