— contends reporter was uninvited
THE Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) has expressed concern over a Page One story carried in the May 31, 2012 edition of the Stabroek News, captioned “Enmore sugar workers lash out at GAWU -ignore call for strike”. According to GAWU, the report was biased in its account of what took place at the inter-house GAWU members meeting held at the Enmore Community Centre Ground on Wednesday, May 30.
GAWU’s General Secretary, Seepaul Narine, who was himself a subject of the report, has given the account to the Union’s leadership on what transpired at the meeting.
He explained that he met with several frustrated members at the meeting, and was proceeding to outline the Union’s strategy with respect to the holiday-with-pay issue when a clearly inebriated worker arrived and started hurling personal abuses at him. The statement adds that two others in an almost similar state joined the first worker in interrupting the meeting, which until then was proceeding smoothly.
According to the statement, after the disruption, Narine explained that the Branch Chairman, Rampersaud Persaud, and the majority of those present expressed their disgust at the behaviour of the three (disrupters), and carried out informal discussions with him on several issues related to themselves and other workers.
Since the incident at Enmore, GAWU has learnt that the three who disrupted the meeting are said to have been influenced by someone who has affiliation to a political group which, in recent times, has been actively seeking to undermine the Union. GAWU says the incident at Enmore brings an intriguing dimension to the story.
The Union has therefore expressed concern at the one-sidedness and prominence given to the report, which GAWU views as an attempt to portray it in a negative light.
GAWU says that while it recognises the Stabroek News editorial staff’s right to determine the content, headline and layout of that newspaper, it (GAWU) also has the right to express its concerns over what is perceived as “biased reporting.”
It adds also that the reporter from Stabroek News turned up at the event uninvited, and it considers the attendance of the reporter as strange.
The Union says it has had a good relationship with Stabroek News, one that was based on cooperation and respect; and it expected that, out of such good relations, fair and objective reporting would have been practised.
GAWU raps Stabroek News for unfair, biased reporting
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