Union leaders too old, react only with ‘squeaks and whimpers’ – Ram

The labour movement has reacted with just “squeaks and whimpers” in the face of disrespect from the Government, social activist and chartered accountant Christopher Ram has said.

In this regard, he called for change “as much in the Government as in the labour movement,” starting with an age limit for leaders.

“The whole structure of the movement needs to change, term and age limits introduced and new blood nurtured,” he said.

Ram’s comments were met with applause from workers present at Wednesday’s opening of the 6th conference of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG).

He claimed the labour movement is slowly being crippled by leaders who lack vision or energy and who have nothing to contribute to the workers’ interest.

Ram suggested that a fresh group of leaders are needed given the Government’s seeming indifference to the labour sector.

He said that after almost three years in office and several cabinet changes, the President has failed to appoint a senior Minister with responsibility for the Labour sector.

“In any country, that (Labour) is one of the most crucial factors of production you are likely to find,” he said during his speech to those who gathered at the opening ceremony at Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union’s (GAWU) Head office at High Street, Kingston.

He also said the Government has failed to pass a single piece of worker-related or social primary legislation in three years and continues to violate the right to free collective bargaining while routinely imposing increases on public servants.

He alluded to the increase in minimum wage for private sector workers to $44,200 in 2017, noting that the “amount which even a single individual will find impossible to sustain the minimum dietary requirements without any consideration for rent or any of the other basic comforts that make life worth living.”

Prior to the increase, the monthly private sector minimum wage was $35,000 while the public sector minimum wage is $60,000.

He recalled the Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection who is responsible for Labour, Keith Scott, describing the leadership of the Labour Movement as “impotent” noting that that was the “ultimate indignity from the government.”

Ram noted that the action by the Minister was a “firable” one but yet the Minister received no reprimand from the President or colleague Ministers.

In 2016, during his speech in the National Assembly on the estimates for the 2017 National Budget, Minister Scott expressed his view that both the umbrella union bodies FITUG and GTUC are “impotent”. He later apologised.