WITH respect to the recent revocation of the check-off system by the management of the Pegasus Hotel, this is what Clerical & Commercial Workers’ Union authority to deduct union dues said; ” I hereby authorize the Management of company to deduct from my wage/salary equivalent amount or such sums as determined from time to time according to my Union’s Rule with the month/week ending and each month/week thereafter unless such authority is rescinded by me in writing on the Union’s specified form, giving one (1) full month’s notice of cancellation. This money is to be paid to the Treasurer of the Clerical & Commercial Workers’ Union on my behalf as Union Dues”. The Clerical & Commercial Workers’ Union has accused the management of rude and unreasonable thinking. It is anti-working class. It cuts against deepening of democratic principles and upholding of human rights. It also signals a threat to workers from the management. Revocation of this check- off system has been conducted by Pegasus Hotel that falls under the purview of Mr. Robert Badal. And this issue must not be taken lightly. For it signals to all Guyanese that the management is prepared to have sole control of the workers, to manipulate and control every piece of information disseminated to the workers, to the point of withdrawing workers rights and working conditions in order to achieve their goal. Jesus said to His disciples, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). We say this against the backdrop where today the Clerical & Commercial Workers’ Union and workers are being told that the workers, who were part of the bargaining unit, can no longer belong to it. It was the management which designed registration letters for the workers withdrawing from the union membership. The management sent registration letters and de-recognition letters to the General Secretary through the Company’s mail book which union officers sign for.
This is a violation of the workers rights. But this has even deeper implications for democracy in Guyana. The nation needs to remember that it was the PPP/C when in opposition and for the 1992 Elections, who campaigned their’s will be a working-class government and the return to democracy to Guyana as such we hold the government accountable to their pre 1992 pledge and their 1992 Manifesto.