– union leader urges, in bid to end workplace harassment

SHE sure didn’t pull her punches Tuesday morning when she criticised fellow trade unionists for holding on to power longer than they should and hogging the spoils that come with positions.
“We’ve had enough of those trade union leaders who want to hold on to those unions as though the unions belong to them; the unions belong to the membership,” she said, adding:

“There are trade union leaders in this national park denying legitimate, bona fide public servants freedom of association; denying us the right to be part of the union that we want to be of.”
She is Chair of the Guyana Trades Union Congress’s (GTUC) Women’s Advisory Committee (WAC), Karen Vansluytman-Corbin, and she was at the time speaking at the annual Labour Day rally at the National Park here in Georgetown.
But Vansluytman-Corbin was not yet done, as she had a few other choice things to say to her colleagues,such as that they owe it to workers to ensure that there is decent work for them, and that union funds are used for the development of the union and its membership.
“Funds should not be used for trade union tourism; not for your self-aggrandisement; not to fill your pockets,” Vansluytman-Corbin said.

“Some of you are there, not for the outcome, but rather you are there for the income… Stop it! Be like Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow!” she added in obvious reference to the late founder of the trade union movement here in Guyana.

And, touching on the issues of victimisation, sexual harassment and unequal treatment in the workplace, Vansluytman-Corbin was characteristically frank, saying:
“I want to tell you one thing: talk out! Stand up! Speak out! It must stop!
“Some of us might be causalties; we might lose our jobs, but you will get back another job! Stand up and in doing that, do not compromise yourself!”

Shifting her focus a tad, Vansluytman-Corbin called on national leaders both present and absent, to support women by developing policies which promote gender equality in the workplace.
Noting that many female workers have committed themselves as public servants to the country, but are downtrodden and “denied upward mobility” by some men in authority, she said:

“We’ve had enough of it! Women have the competence, we have the capacity, we have the skills, we have the knowledge, we have the intellectual capabilities just like the men! So, remember us; treat us well. Do not sideline us.”

And while on the subject of work and fair play, she seized the opportunity to call for an investigation to be launched into the Department of the Public Service, which she said does not function to the benefit of all public servants.

Needless to say, Vansluytman-Corbin’s message was well received by scores of persons in the audience who came out in support of Labour Day celebrations this year.