Nadir warns of consequences of illegal strikes
LABOUR Minister Manzoor Nadir said, yesterday, he is confident that there is some correlation between the heightened international activity in this country and the actions recently taken by some trade unions.

“Unions have a way of being strategic,” he told the Guyana Chronicle on the sidelines of the inauguration of an interactive online programme for the Central Recruitment and Manpower Agency.

Speaking in his ministry’s Camp Street, Georgetown building, Mr. Nadir said he is not too daunted by the strikes and picketing exercises, as they all deal with issues that he believes can be resolved within a short space of time.

Referring, specifically, to the work stoppage by workers of Guyana Power & Light Incorporated (GPL), on Monday, he remarked that the utility company falls under the Essential Services Act and, therefore, its employees cannot strike nor can the employer lock them out without first writing to him.

The Act provides for the Minister to be given a month’s notice before strike action is taken and Nadir warned that those breaching the stipulations will have to face the consequences.

“And there are penalties that provide for breaches,” he pointed out, citing the current illegal strike by municipal workers in the mining town of Linden.

Nadir said: “I want to put on record my concern for those union leaders and workers who are in these services and who go on strike without the proper procedure.”
But he acknowledged that the Constitution, the Trade Union Recognition and Certification Act and the Labour Act, all guarantee the right to strike.

Nevertheless, where the Essential Services Act is concerned, Nadir reiterated that there are procedures to follow. Even where unions have collective labour agreements with employers, they still have to be guided by specific rules.

CLASSIFIED

In a press statement he issued yesterday, the Minister listed the sectors that are classified as essential services, which include:

** any dockage, wharfage, discharging, loading, or unloading of vessels or related service;

* * any direct or indirect production, storage, distribution, sale, delivery or supply of potable water;

* * any direct or indirect generation, transmission, sale or supply of electricity;

* * any service essential to the continued provision of telecommunications;
**  any service operated by the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC)Board;
* * any health care or related service operated by any other public corporation established under the Public Corporations Act 1988 (No. 21 of 1988), by any public hospital or by the Government or any local authority;

**  any air traffic control service;

** any service provided by the Transport & Harbours Department (T&HD) or the Maritime Authority;

** any service relevant to drainage and irrigation (D&I), and

** the cemetery, scavenging and solid waste services of the municipalities.

MOVING

By means of the statement, Nadir said he is taking note of the strike actions and moving to deal condignly with them to ensure that respect for laws in the country is upheld.
He also stated that those workers who engage in actions contrary to the Essential Services Act, open themselves to being terminated and losing hard earned benefits.
In addition, Nadir pointed out that every person who contravenes or fails to comply with Section 12 of that statute commits an offence and is liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding $30,000 and imprisonment for a term not exceeding two months.
If the offence is a continuing one, a further fine, not exceeding $1,000 for every day or part during which it continues, will be imposed.
Nadir has ordered that notices be put up at workplaces about which sectors are categorised as essential services.