See statement below from the Guyana Trades Union Congress on Labour Day march:
The Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) will commemorate May Day on Monday, 1st May 2023. This year there will be a march through the streets of Georgetown, starting from Independence Park (aka Burnham Court) and ending at the Critchlow Labour College, Woolford Ave, where a rally will follow. The march starts at 7:30 a.m. and rally at 10:30 a.m.
This year’s theme is “Building a strong progressive union to deal with the challenges,” and comes against the backdrop of the perilous times working are experiencing and the need to refocus the trade union as the bulwark in the struggle for improved working conditions and better standard of living.
Labour Day comes at a time when workers, in the world’s fastest growing economy (Guyana), are deprived of a liveable wage and standard of living commensurate with the Gross Domestic Product. Pensioners are losing hope their circumstances in their golden years could get better. Almost half of the nation’s population is surviving on less than GUY$1200,00 per day according to the World Bank Report. Many of the nation’s children are going to bed and school hungry.
The constitutional right to join a trade union of choice and engage in collective bargaining is being violated with impunity. The biggest recalcitrant is the government, the nation’s largest employer and custodian of the Constitution and Laws of Guyana. Workers continue to bear witness of the two societies where the gap between the haves and have-nots is widening.
The right to vote, which the trade union initiated the struggle for in 1926 is being tested as never before. Even before the first ballot is for the upcoming Local Government Election there are fears, not unjustified, that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) will abrogate its constitutional duty to ensure free, fair and credible election and election free from fear and being compromised.
In a land of plenty there is rising despair and hopelessness. Workers’ only hope, apart from emigrating, is to unite in the face of the adversities and fight back.
The rally’s main speakers are: GTUC President Coretta McDonald, Vice President Norris Witter and General Secretary Lincoln Lewis
GTUC invites all unions, workers and the public to participate.
