The Guyana Public Service Union is privy to the letter to the editor on the National Minimum Wage Order by Mohammed Akeel, former Chief Labour Officer, as well as the Joint statement in response to that letter by the President of GTUC, Norris Witter and General Secretary, FITUG Kenneth Joseph who are both members of the Tripartite Board.The GPSU would like to take this opportunity to reiterate its firm position in support of the introduction of the National Minimum Wage and 40 hour working week as stipulated in the Order issued by the Minister of Labour Dr Nanda Gopaul.
As previously stated, this action is considered by the Union as commendable and undoubtedly a step in the right direction to bring some economic relief to the workers who could benefit from this development. They are viewed by the union as implicitly being exploited. While clearly not dignifying Akeel’s letter, I wish to state that his expressions are of no surprise to the GPSU, since it is nationally known that we rejected his involvement in the 1999 strike which led to the formation of mediation team of the Guyana Council of Churches, the Guyana Bar Association and others, to bring back professionalism in this industrial relations matter which resulted in its satisfactory conclusion.
In concluding, we wish to say Akeel’s letter lacks credibility, subjectivity and is biased in favour of business interest of which he has long been a consultant. His motives continue to be anti-working class.