The opposition coalition APNU+AFC yesterday made a pact with Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) and labour unions in Guyana for the resuscitation of collective bargaining should it win the May 11th general and regional polls.
“It is a contract between the next government and the union represented by the GTUC,” APNU+AFC presidential candidate David Granger told attendees at the GTUC Labour Day rally, as he presented a copy of the coalition’s manifesto to GTUC General Secretary Lincoln Lewis as a symbolic commitment to the pact.
The rally, held under the theme ‘Your power, your vote: Workers unite against state violation,’ was hosted at the Critchlow Labour College, following a march around the capital city.
Speakers included Lewis, President of the GTUC Leslie Gonsalves, youth representative Jermain Hermanstyne, and Women’s Advisory Coun-cil representative Karen Vansluytman-Corbin and they all pleaded with workers to vote for the coalition if they wanted betterment.
Granger promised that should the coalition be elected, no longer will workers be forced to accept a forced “lil freck at the of the year” but instead they would see their respective unions engaging in collective bargaining for mutually-accepted agreements.
“We guarantee you that we will stand behind unions so that unions can sit down with employers and restore collective bargaining… it is back to the bargaining table; that is what APNU+AFC will give you. No more Frecks!” he told the exuberant crowd, which chanted, “No more 5%.”
For years, successive PPP/C administrations have been criticised for imposing wage increases on public servants without any negotiation with the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU).
Granger mentioned that the coalition has also seen a social impact programme that was compiled by the GTUC and endorsed it. He said if he were elected, he would want to see it implemented. He said that the programme calls on government for restoration of collective bargaining. “I would like to say now that I endorse the need for what the GTUC calls a social compact. It is an agreement between various partners of society. What we want to see is that there are clear objectives of where this compact/contract will take us,” Granger added.
He also pointed out to the GTUC that agreement must be based on the fact that the working class must have a good life. He said it must also have organisation and a structure and there should be the establishment of a mechanism for implementation. He further said there must be instruments, constitutional, legal and otherwise, to comply with the contract so that by the end of the next Parliament workers and the population at-large can determine if desired outcomes were achieved.
Granger also used his address to lament the country’s high unemployment rate, especially among youths, saying it was the main cause of hopelessness. “Happy people don’t kill themselves and young people are killing themselves because there is no hope,” he stated.
He pointed to the Guyana’s prison system, where according to him 75% of prison inmates are young persons, many of whom will waste their lives in the penal system without ever being afforded the resources to give them an opportunity to give back positively to society.
As a result, he promised workers that programmes outlined his party’s manifesto will be instituted to launch a war on a number of social ills, such as poverty, crime, cronyism and dictatorship.
‘Gov’t of partnership’
Prime Ministerial candidate Moses Nagamootoo also committed the coalition to working with workers and trade unions countrywide.
“Our government will be committed to a genuine partnership among the state, labour and business. We would like on May 12th to tell the world that we are forming not only a government of national unity but a government of national partnership,” Nagamootoo said.
He lamented that on a day which should be embraced by organisations that preach solidarity, there was blatant division shown, with the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) having one rally and GTUC another.
He pointed to a sugar worker, Winston Persaud, who is the field representative from Enmore, and noted that he was allegedly chased away from the National Park, where the FITUG rally was held, because persons know that he supports the coalition. “Winston went today and marched with his brothers and sister of GAWU and as he attempted to enter the National Park they had their goons chuck him out and tell him ‘Go with your other people.’ Today injustice trembles,” Nagamootoo lamented as Persaud stood up and waved the GAWU flag to cheers of support from attendees.
“We must be conscious of the fact that even as we celebrate here today, that labour in Guyana is divided. Labour has been weakened by this division. Justice must be done for the working class, specifically the working poor… we are committed to resolving and healing the historical wrongs,” he stressed.
He emphasised that APNU+AFC’s commitment to the working class was illustrated in its manifesto, which was launched on Thursday, by the noted salary increases for nurses, teachers and other public servants.
Nagamootoo also promised the restoration of the full subvention to the Critchlow Labour College to the loud applause and screams of a pleased audience. The subvention was cut under the government of President Bharrat Jagdeo.
Nagamootoo also said the coalition believes that when the lands that currently used for sugar cultivation are exhausted, they should be given to sugar workers as housing. “No more should we give land away to friends and cronies of politicians; so that they can squat on it and speculate on it; so they can build middle class homes in areas where there are working people who are catching ass; who can’t afford to buy the land that their parents and grandparents gave their lives for,” he said.
He added that in the quest for labour equality countrywide, non-traditional labourers and everyone who works laboriously to provide for their families, such as farmers, fishermen and housewives, should be included. “Whether in the factory offices or in the fields,” he declared.
