…ISS security guards down tools over non-payment of January salaries

SECURITY Guards in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) attached to the Integrated Security Service are complaining that they were not paid for the Mashramani holiday and not even for the month of January. Only recently, the Ministry of Social Protection received complaints by residents of Berbice about the same security service. In New Amsterdam, guards attached to the service said they would receive varying sums every month and as such they do not know what their correct salary is.

Meanwhile, the protesting guards who are responsible for providing security for government buildings in Region Five, including those of the Regional Democratic Council, the Health Centres and schools among others threatened to stand down from providing security for these buildings later this week if they do not receive outstanding salaries due to them.

They accused the management of ISS of being callous and inconsiderate, since none of the company officials had made any attempt to contact them to explain why they were not paid for January and February to date. A representative explained that ISS won the contract for security services for publicly owned buildings in Region Five in December of last year.

He said that the affected workers were employees of the previous company and ISS decided to employ them after winning the contract. They said their problems began since the takeover in December. “We didn’t get pay for work in December 2017 until mid-month January, 2018 and no explanations were given. This is coming to the end of February and ISS has not paid us for January or February to date,” one of the guards complained.

The guards noted that many of them were females heading single-parent families and the dashing of expectations of a regular pay date was taking its toll in terms of economic hardships on their households. They complained that they were unable to meet their living expenses, unable to support their families and having to borrow money just to get by. Some employees mentioned that based on varying amounts of money they would receive, they do not know what their correct salaries were.

One woman displayed a pay slip for December 2017, which contained merely her gross payments without any breakdown of how this payment had been arrived at or any deductions, for example, for the National Insurance Scheme (NIS). She and others claimed that they were being deliberately short-changed by the ISS. “This security company is exploiting us and worse, nobody is telling us anything. We try to call them and their phones ring out. The supervisors say they don’t know anything.”

The security guards in Region Five say that they are also mulling seeking the intervention of the Department of Labour in the Ministry of Social Protection to get management of ISS to behave in a socially responsible manner. Throughout Friday, efforts by the Guyana Chronicle to contact the management of ISS proved futile.

Calls to a cellphone said to be the number of the general manager, who was identified as Ms Pilgrim went unanswered. The ISS was in the news as recently as two days ago, when the Guyana Chronicle reported on similar complaints by guards of the ISS in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne)