– Ramkarran tells FITUG conference
GUYANA will require the full cooperation of all forces in the society, including labour, to help chart an agreed course forward in the face of the severe global economic challenges, Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr. Ralph Ramkarran has said.
He said the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) and others in the labour movement must assist in charting an agreed course “that will have to exploit our advantages, to avoid the vagaries of economic dislocation in the developed countries.”
At the opening of the FITUG third delegates conference Tuesday at the Umana Yana in Georgetown, he noted that the challenges facing the economies of developed countries of Europe and North America “are frightening.”
According to Ramkarran, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) governments since 1992 have given unprecedented emphasis to the interests of the trade union movement and the working people of Guyana.
“The last two administrations of President (Bharrat) Jagdeo have, under his leadership, demonstrated a commitment to the welfare of workers, youth, women and the disadvantaged that has not been shown in any ten year period in the history of Guyana. It has shown that in economic adversity, confidence in the ability of working people is the first port of call and my experience is that workers never fail to respond willingly and wholeheartedly,” he said.
Ramkarran noted that debt crises and recessions are being met with “slash and burn” measures of reduced spending and higher taxes, resulting in more job losses and more recession.
“These policies have failed over and over again for decades in developing countries”, he argued at the Umana Yana ceremony.
He pointed out that some economists are predicting that the recent G 20 Conference Declaration, agreeing that developed countries must cut their deficits by 2013, apart from placing the burdens of the crisis on the backs of workers and their families, students and the disadvantaged, will fail to generate economic growth, as in the case of Ireland.
FITUG comprises the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), the National Association of Agricultural, Clerical and Industrial Employees (NAACIE), the Guyana Labour Union (GLU) and the Clerical and Commercial Workers Union (CCWU). It represents some 35,000 workers which makes it the largest trade union umbrella body in Guyana.
FITUG President, Mr. Carvil Duncan, said the umbrella body is vocal and voices its concerns on issues of the day without regard to partisan politics.
He said that when the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU) had its dispute with the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc, FITUG was one of the first to make known its position in support of the bauxite union.
“FITUG does not look at things in a one-sided manner,” Duncan said. He recalled that over the time that the body has been constituted, it put out more than 35 press releases on various issues.
He said that when President Jagdeo conceived the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), “FITUG saw it as its responsibility to get on board”, adding that the body has mobilised workers in support of the LCDS since it has benefits for them and the country.
He referred to the City Council where workers are not being paid until way into the new month, “notwithstanding members of the council and the Mayor are travelling the world.”
Duncan noted that the city is deteriorating since contractors are not working.
“Those who claim to be champions of the workers have failed them,” he declared. “They should step down. I would ask the government to step in and put things in place. We will become a sick nation. The government has a responsibility to the country and its citizens…Do something for the city of Georgetown so that we bring it back to being the Garden City.”
He also stressed the need for FITUG to strengthen its links with the private sector, adding, “We need to see the private sector as our friends.”
GAWU President, Mr. Komal Chand said the workers of Guyana are suffering economically not because of the general economic downturn only, but also because of low productivity.
He stressed that working class people have to be more united, indicating that this issue would have been on the agenda of the conference business sessions.
Referring to wage cuts in many countries because of the global financial crisis, Chand said that cannot be applied in Guyana because wages are already low here.
He contended that the issue is about production, which in the sugar sector is at an all time low. “We need to get production up,” he said.