United for the first time in decades, trade union leaders yesterday blasted the David Granger administration for its failure to keep several promises but Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo said that work is being done even as he urged that the criticism of government be fair.
Participating in a joint May Day rally for the first time since 1988, the trade union leaders fired at the administration from all sides on a string of issues with Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) General Secretary Lincoln Lewis warning that “efforts are intensifying at treating us with contempt and wanting to put us on the fringe of society.” In an extraordinary May Day scene, speaker after speaker berated the government on issues ranging from the absence of collective bargaining to crime to the closure of two sugar estates. They called for government to engage the labour movement and reverse course on some issues.
The older union leaders did not escape unscathed as younger representatives accused them of denying women and youths, leadership positions in the various bodies.
While the union leaders were united in calling out government for not acting on the issues affecting workers, it was clear that the unity among the rank and file remains fragile as boos greeted some speakers including PPP General Secretary Clement Rohee, who was heckled throughout his speech. Even Lewis himself, a veteran trade unionist, was not immune as he came under attack from apparent government supporters who heckled and derided him as “Lincoln Jagdeo” even as he pointed out that he fought for workers’ rights under the previous administration and vowed to hold the present one accountable.
Prior to the rally at the National Park, the various unions that fall under the umbrellas of the GTUC and the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) marched under cloudy skies through the streets of Georgetown. Over the years, following a split in the local trade union movement, the unions affiliated to the GTUC and FITUG have marched together but have held separate rallies. The fracture occurred in 1988 in the wake of the PNC administration’s Economic Recovery Programme when seven unions opposed to the administration’s policies and the GTUC’s apparent support for them,