– President Jagdeo at May Day rally
…lauds multi-year agreement with Teachers Union, calls for its emulation
President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday graced the annual Labour Day rally of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG), saying that Government continues to invest in people when, in other countries, social and other services are faced with cutbacks.
Speaking at the rally held at the National Park tarmac, the president gave an overview of the worldwide dire economic situation, and how Guyana has, so far, been able to avert outright crisis through a raft of measures.
“First of all, I wish to thank FITUG for inviting me here today. I truly appreciate this wonderful gesture, particularly by an organisation that has grown in reputation over the years it has been in existence. An organisation that has consistently fought for the rights of all Guyanese, not just working Guyanese, and an organisation that continues to demonstrate the capacity to lead the trade union movement at this critical juncture of our history when most things are changing in the world, and we too are changing in Guyana. We are trying to create a modern economy that will satisfy the needs of our people,” the President said.
“Today the world is faced with one of the worst economic recessions since the 1930s; and as a consequence of this recession, millions of people have lost their jobs,” said President Jagdeo.
He spoke of the massive reductions in social welfare in many of the countries in Europe, as austerity measures kick in.
The president said that although things were bad in Guyana at one stage, the country never succumbed to the dictates of the International Monetary Fund, which said that public sector jobs must be reduced.
“We spend $3 billion a year on pensions, $1 billion on social assistance. We have launched a programme to give every schoolchild a free uniform; we have started a hot meals programme in schools. This is where we are going; when the other countries across the world and in the Caribbean [are going in the opposite direction,” said Jagdeo.
“We…have increased benefits to our people. The nature of our government is different, largely because of the struggles that we engaged in over the many years to enhance Guyanese rights. Although we have made a significant effort to increase wages, we still recognise that we have a long way to go. You will never hear any PPP leader claim that we are where we want to be,” he said.
“Wages and salaries have to grow with the economy and our economy is growing, and so our capacity to pay is increasing. But simultaneously we have always argued that it is not just wages and salaries that make a difference in the country. People need a whole range of other things to lead a productive and healthy life. So today, we budget over $24 billion for education,” he said.
He spoke of the recent launch of the education channel and its potential to lift learning opportunities for every Guyanese child and family.
“If they learn more, there would be the capacity to earn more in the future. Education provides that capacity especially in a knowledge-based economy,” he said. “We have made it clear that within a matter of two years, 90,000 of the poorest families will get a free computer from the government. We recognise computers would be the tool of the future. What is going to happen in this country if poor people’s children are left behind if they can’t afford computers,” he said.
The president said that other trade unions should take a leaf out of the book of the Guyana Teachers Union, which has been able to come together with government on a multi-year wage package.
“I wish to congratulate the Guyana Teachers Union. We have just concluded a multi-year agreement with the teachers union for five years, and part of that agreement has a wage rate, an allowance for housing where $40 million per year will go towards a revolving fund to ensure that teachers also get access to build houses, apart from that they can get in the banking system. It has 40 scholarships per year. This is very important, because it means that we are entering into a new mode, where, if we enter in together, we can make a big difference,” he said.
“The reason we concluded a five-year agreement is because we are confident that we can pay wage increases every single year, unlike most of those countries that have frozen wages. We are confident that the economy will continue to grow, our country will expand in the future because of all the initiatives that we have. I urge the other unions to look at this agreement and discuss something similar with us, where we can put wages negotiations on a more predictable footing,” he said.
“I have no fear that [these developments] will continue, because I know Donald Ramotar comes out of the union movement too. He worked at the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), I know him personally, he emerged out of the bowels of our party, he has been the leader of our party for over a decade and helped our party to retain the characteristics of being a poor, working class party,” the president told the gathering of workers.
“I have no fear that he will bring to the presidency those qualities, and that we will continue to have good engagement with the workers as we continue to build our country,” the President said.
Speaking at the rally, President of GAWU Komal Chand said the annual May Day celebrations are a fixture of workers’ solidarity. “Through our activities, we pay homage to our past heroes and reflect on the struggles and sacrifices they made in the struggle for the working class. May Day helps to remind us, as much as we have problems specific to our circumstances and national conditions, at the same time we are the contingent of the working class of the world who are engaged in fierce struggles for betterment, social justice and world peace,” Chand said.
“We cannot take the path of silence at wrongdoings and complacency. That would be disastrous for us. Comrades, May Day demonstrates that we are part of an international movement of workers; and in the context of imperialism, we have common struggles. May Day provides another occasion for workers to express some of these concerns and renew their resolve to face up in a responsible way to those realities that affect them in their individual enterprises and in the country,” he said.
Chand said that the working people constitute the power that drives the engine of growth, so that plans on paper can become reality.
“GAWU takes the view that the Guyanese working people should also play a vigorous role in ensuring that elections are free and fair, so that the democracy that was returned in 1992 is not undermined and that the election campaigns and elections are conducted in a conflict-free atmosphere, and issues are discussed in a democratic way, even if spiritedly,” he said.
Chand spoke against the attempts to use the threat of de-recognition of GAWU in the struggle for better wages at the Guyana Sugar Corporation. He said that recognition was won in arduous struggle 35 years ago. “That attempt did not succeed, thanks to the intervention of President Jagdeo,” he said.
“GAWU reaffirms its commitment to trade union unity, based on democratic practices. We are [disappointed] that yet another year has gone by and trade union unity has not been achieved. With this division, we are only hurting ourselves. Division breeds weakness and weakness simply makes our struggle to defend workers gains, interests and rights less effective. It is time that the general leaders of the unions work together to defend the gains of the workers and strive to improve the welfare of all the workers to secure a better Guyana,” he said.
Other speakers at the rally included labour stalwarts Kenneth Joseph of the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) and Brother Carvil Duncan of the Guyana Labour Union (GLU).