…floats ‘Ministry of Labour and Social Protection’

MEMBERS of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) and Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) remain optimistic ahead of a discussion on a motion that was put before the National Assembly for the re-establishment of a Ministry of Labour.
The motion, which was tabled by Opposition Member of Parliament Gillian Burton-Persaud supports the call of the trade union movement to have a Ministry of Labour. It will be discussed in the National Assembly on Thursday.

“The trade union community can safely say it has a sense as to where the opposition will vote. This notwithstanding, expectations are being held [that] the house will deliver unanimous support for the motion,” said veteran trade unionist and General-Secretary of the GTUC, Lincoln Lewis, during a press briefing at Critchlow Labour College on Tuesday.
He said that the ministry does not have to be a separate entity, but the word labour could be added to the Ministry of Social Protection, making it the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection.

“The absence of a Ministry of Labour is a disservice to Guyanese and the historical development of the society,” said Lewis. Although labour is not a separate ministry, it is a department within the Social Protection Ministry which is headed by Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection, Keith Scott.

Lewis however contended that labour deserves recognition and the trade union community in unison as such expects that the motion will see spirited discussion on the workers’ contributions to building Guyana from the ground up with their sweat. He said: “Labour’s demand for equal prominence and treatment in the structure of governance is well deserving. We are not asking for a new minister, we are asking for equal treatment.”
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has 189 conventions. Social protection deals with 17, leaving more than 170 unattended or not having equal treatment. This, he said, will also be another issue that will be addressed if labour receives recognition.

He said too that 2018 marks 92 years since the working class sat in that august house for the first time, deliberated and developed a strategy to move the peoples of the Caribbean toward political independence under a system of governance that will respect and treat them as first-class citizens. “It was March 1926, the father of trade unionism in Guyana and the British Commonwealth, Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow and other erstwhile Caribbean labour leaders, decided at a conference that from henceforth the workers will fight for one-man-one-vote (universal adult suffrage), representative leadership, public education, universal healthcare, paid leave, housing, a 40-hour work week, eight-hour work day, prison reform, internal self-government, ownership of the economy, etc.

As the parliamentarians debate the motion not only must the work and achievements of the working class be seized, but also the struggles pursued, and scars attained that made it possible for each and every one occupying a seat in those hallowed halls. Today’s occupants are inhabiting space occupied by stalwarts such as Critchlow, Cheddi Jagan, Forbes Burnham, Boysie Ramkarran, Claude Merriman, Winslow Carrington, Janet Jagan and, Winifred Gaskin …. These persons are renowned for their actions in advancing the welfare of the working class. Though none expects mimic men and women, it is reasonable to expect the struggles, goals, ideals and representation of predecessors will be noted and their strengths built on.”

Lewis said the trade union movement believes that as citizens-inheritors of Guyana’s bounty and sacrifices of our forebears, “we must not merely record history, recant history or be passive [sic] observant, we must learn from the past and actively shape and mould the present and future for the better.”

He said labour’s demand for equal prominence and treatment in the structure of governance is well deserving. “We are not asking for a new ministry, we are asking for equal treatment. Labour can be accommodated in the Ministry of Social Protection where the ministry can be renamed, Ministry of Labour and Social Protection. Or,l can be equally accommodated in any other ministry as government so chooses. There exists precedence in our society.”