IN HIS ADDRESS to hundreds of workers who converged at the National Park for the annual May day observances yesterday, Carvil Duncan, President of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG), expressed disgust, frustration and despair with the combined opposition parties’ action in the National Assembly to put hundreds of workers on the breadline. The FITUG boss said he was convinced Guyana was traversing a path of development and prosperity of the working class people of the country, as, over the last twenty years, Guyana has seen the light of the tunnel.
Referring to his address at the same event in 2011, when he stated that Guyanese were fortunate there had not been any retrenchment, he added that, very soon, the country would have gone down the path of importing labour, because of the plans the administration has.
Those plans included a laptop for every household, and a hydro project which would reduce the country’s dependence on fossil fuel, making electricity much cheaper for all the workers in Guyana. Creating micro-businesses in Amerindian communities was also among those plans.
He pointed to the General and Regional Elections held in November 2011, which created an opportunity to prove that Guyana should be put first, and said that by so doing, political parties – both governing and opposition — ought to work together to develop the country.
“But there were those who believe that that should never be; there were those who believe that families should be left breadless…no bread on the table; there were those who believe that mothers should not send their children to school; and there were those who believe that they have no money, so that children should be on the breadline,” Duncan expounded.
He said a clear message should be sent to the opposition parties that workers gave them their votes, as they thought that they were doing the wise thing, however, the workers now regret so doing, but the time will come when they will be taking those votes back.
Duncan recalled that, back in 1991, the then Peoples National Congress government had embarked on a programme called “redeployment”, whereby in excess of 100 ‘black’ public servants had received letters of retrenchment. Additionally, in 1983, another PNCR administration had embarked on a strategy called “restructuring”, whereby public servants had been shifted “all over the place”, and when they had taken their protest action to Parliament, the workers had been sent home.
Duncan said that when the PNC was in government, they had retrenched workers; and now that they are in opposition, they are moving motions in Parliament to leave workers without jobs.

“It is wisdom to draw the conclusion that they do not like the workers; they are concerned only with political power, and they are concerned only with crippling the government at the expense of the workers,” Duncan lamented.
He accused the two parties of not doing what is intended for the Opposition to do, adding that they should have used their influence to improve the conditions of the working class, ensuring that there is job creation.
“…I am not totally satisfied with the salaries and wages that are being paid to public servants; I am not totally satisfied with the pensions that people enjoy; I am not totally satisfied with some of your NIS pensions that you receive; but notwithstanding that, I have a concept and a philosophy that we have to start somewhere, and in fact we have started,” the FITUG boss pointed out.
He made reference to the cuts in the allocation to the Guyana Power and Light Inc., and the Ethnic Relations Commission, noting that those would significantly affect Guyanese.

Nothing to celebrate
Duncan believes there is nothing to celebrate on Labour Day 2012. He referred to his past speeches, wherein he would call on workers to celebrate and plan for the future, in noting that the trade union movement has tried but has come under severe attack from the opposition political parties; and in so doing, the unions have not been able to achieve the workers’ agenda.
Duncan assured workers that the union would not stand idle, and would not rest until proper representation is given to those persons who would know their fate today.
“If you have to walk, we will walk with you; if you have to run, we will run with you. We will be with you day and night, good or bad, because you are workers and we have a responsibility to ensure that your economic (and) social life is protected at all times,” Duncan assured.

The GAWU position
Meanwhile, the President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), Komal Chand, who also addressed the workers, echoed sentiments similar to Duncan’s with regard to the budget cuts.
He noted that GAWU was ready to stand up for the day-to-day rights and interests of the workers. Chand referred to Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh’s 2012 Budget presentation in which he announced Central Government’s transferral of $4B into GuySuCo to ensure the industry is financially viable.
Chand believes the support that government is giving is critical to the industry, as crucial capital works required in so many areas would be undertaken soon, while value for money is a priority for the sugar company.
“2012 can really be the turnaround year for the sugar industry. Indeed, it can be so if a quantity of sugar not less than 300,000 tonnes can be produced by the end of 2013, in keeping with the industry’s present (state of affairs) and researches and the current price for sugar on the overseas market,” Chand opined.