Urging unions to demand a new living wage, trade unionist N K Gopaul on Friday said that while the government has embarked on a robust infrastructural programme, the same attention has not been paid to the plight of the ordinary worker and he also declared that some of the country’s oil wealth should bring real improvement to the poor.
Gopaul was addressing the 54th Delegates Conference of the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) at the Umana Yana.
A former PPP/C Minister of Labour, Gopaul said that if the current cost of living is examined no one would be able to deny that the workers deserve a significant improvement in their living standards and take home pay.
“The $60,000 national minimum wage and the $75,000 Government minimum wage should be addressed as a matter of urgency with reasonable compensation given to the ordinary workers for their labour. They must be able to go to work feeling a sense of hope that at the end of the month they would be able to comfortably take care of their basic financial needs. If we were to examine the basic needs of a household with all the concessions being granted by Government to alleviate the impact of the cost of living by the payment of financial grants for school children; the because we care school care programme; an additional month’s pay to old age pensioners, benefits to fisher folks and one-off payment to households etc., we will still see a deficit in the pay cheques of the lower paid workers”, he said.
While the Government should be applauded for its housing drive and other initiatives aimed at lifting the standard of living of the people, Gopaul said that much more has to be done for the lower paid workers of this country.
“Let’s examine a typical household, with a mortgage of $9M on a home. He will encounter a compulsory deduction of about $46,000 for loan repayment, $10,000 for electricity, $2,000 for water, $10,000 for internet and telephone services, transportation of about $10,000, put that alongside a net pay of $68,000 that leaves the worker with a negative balance on his earnings of $10,000. Take away the mortgage payment and he is left with $36,000., which he has to then take care of food supplies, cooking gas, clothing and footwear. If there is a sole bread winner in a home with children going to school, we can understand what that family has to go through to eke out a living.
“No longer can a household of 4 persons be provided for by a sole bread winner. We have to therefore, create an environment where the job market can provide the opportunities for work for both spouses in a home”, Gopaul said.
While the government’s educational and training drive in this regard must be commended, Gopaul said that it must be restructured in such a way to put emphasis on secondary, technical and university education at the country’s established institutions and in programmes designed to meet the country’s needs.
“We need to re-examine the academic programmes being made available at the University of Guyana in particular to see how relevant the programmes they are offering, cater for the needs of the country and the country’s job market”, Gopaul, a former Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President, said.
Hopelessness
Noting that the PPP/C Government has been addressing infrastructural works all over the country to its credit, he said that the same urgency is not being placed in addressing the plight of the ordinary man.
“I have heard the phrase from workers that `we are a rich country with many poor people around’. There is need for that feeling of hopelessness, poverty and desperation to be erased from the minds of the ordinary man. The trade union movement, therefore, must demand the immediate improvement in the living standards of the ordinary workers”, he said.
He however argued that before unions are in a position to achieve this there will have to be a drastic change in their modus operandi to bring back professionalism in the movement and to win the confidence of their membership, their employers and the Government.
“In so doing they can advance the call and agitate collectively for the urgent implementation of a national minimum wage and a public sector minimum wage coupled with decent increases in pension for our pensioners, who have toiled for decades in this country”, he said.
Adverting to the now customary Christmas payout to public servants, Gopaul called for this to be changed.
“I have no doubt that very soon some form of relief will be forthcoming as the Christmas Season approaches and that the national budget for 2023 will make adequate provisions for wage increases to address the issue of paying a living wage.
However, we should ensure that the 2023 increases be decided upon and paid early so that it could immediately assist the workers in grappling with the increase in the cost of living.
The labour economists estimated that real wages declined by about 20 percent below the 2020 level. It has now become necessary for us to move away from the Christmas payout and pay to the workers what is decided upon following the national budget. It is no longer wise to keep the workers money in what can be termed an `escrow account’ while their needs are immediate. You should know this saying: As the grass is growing the horse is starving”, he said.
Neither the PPP/C government nor its predecessor, APNU+AFC has allowed collective bargaining with the unions representing public servants.
Gopaul posited that unions must demand that some of the wealth accrued from the robust petroleum and mineral sectors must find its way into the pockets of the ordinary man and bring improvement to the poor and needy.
“I am satisfied that President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali will continue to champion workers rights and interests but we as trade unions should always be vigilant, militant and press on with our demands for a fair deal for our workers. We must struggle unceasingly until the Guyanese workers earn a decent living wage”, Gopaul asserted.
Noting in his address that he had been associated with NAACIE for 52 years including serving as its General Secretary, Gopaul lamented the decline in respect for unions.
He said that the trade union movement can play a major role in directing the trajectory of economic and social development of the country but to be engaged in these activities it must be respected and its leaders must be principled and professional at all times.
Further, he said that in treating with employers and Government, the unions and their leaders must be consistent in their demands and attitude and must also be able to win the confidence of their members and gain the respect of both employers and Government and other social partners.
“But how has our movement feared? To begin with the movement and its leaders are badly divided. This division has led to the leaders not getting the desired recognition from both the employers and the Government. There are times whenever certain leaders make public statements instead of helping and promoting the workers cause, they are looked at with odium, scorn and disrespect and further alienate their members and even create division within the rank and file.
Some unions have been failing on the question of accountability with leaders believing that the union resources are theirs to be utilized anyhow and as they pleased. They are failing to submit reports to the relevant legal authorities, such as the Registrar of Trade Unions and the Auditor General.
Very often, elections in some unions are held under questionable circumstances resulting in leaders not gaining respect from their members. Some union leaders (have also) engaged in making highly political charged statements, insensitive to the consciousness of their members”, Gopaul lamented.
He said that for the union movement to survive there is need for: (a) a complete overhaul in their democratic framework; (b) their accountability and (c) they must abandon partisan political interests.
“Union Leaders cannot be unreasonable in their demands and uncompromising in their stance, use intemperate language in the public and put to ridicule the other parties they are supposed to negotiate with and then expect meetings and cordiality from those who face their wrath.
Collective Bargaining is meant to develop harmonious relations between union and management. Any act of consistent hostility, disrespectful conduct and uncompromising stance by either side, can put into jeopardy that process.
We live in an enlightened era and our conduct at the bargaining table must be of such that the other parties will always be willing to meet. Reform in attitude of negotiators must be at the top of the agenda”, he declared.
