MORE than 50 workers attached to the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) on Monday turned up in City Hall’s compound to protest the non-payment of their September salaries, along with a retroactive payment that was also due to be paid in September.  The workers, backed by General-Secretary of the Guyana Labour Union (GLU) Carvil Duncan, were then invited  to meet with Town Clerk Royston King in City Hall’s Chambers, where they were promised that the salaries will become available by Wednesday.

Duncan chided King for not informing the workers of the City Council’s position in a timely fashion and argued that a better system of communication be put in place at the municipality. While some workers were paid on September 29, the set who turned up to protest were not told anything regarding when their salaries would be paid. According to their union representative, some of the workers have financial obligations to honour and at no fault of theirs, are made to find more money for late payments. King repeated that the Treasury is empty at the moment and that the M&CC cannot pay what it doesn’t have. “We cannot pay what we don’t have. If there’s nothing in the Treasury, then nothing can be paid out.”

King said the City Council was anticipating revenue from various new projects that have either been stopped or suspended, and that will help the M&CC to meet its obligations. The controversial parking meter project was one project that the government deemed necessary for suspension. Furthermore, King said the M&CC has been writing to the Ministry of Finance for a new valuation of properties to be done in the city, so that the City Council can benefit from increased rates and taxes. The gigantic Teleperformance building, for instance, is paying the M&CC a mere 16,000 in taxes each year, King pointed out. There has been no valuation of properties for more than 20 years.
“There is [sic] a number of other agencies that must work with us. Again, Giftland Mall – we’re not receiving any money from them,” King noted.Following the meeting, Duncan told reporters he could not understand why the M&CC has been hiring more workers when it cannot afford to pay those it has. He claimed that there are more staff in the office than those who are actually out in the field working. Duncan complained that Head of the Solid Waste Management Department, Walter Narine, told his workers that he will send them home if they attended the protest, and cautioned that Narine has no authority to do so. Narine subsequently denied ever telling that to the workers.