A call for equal treatment by workers cannot be ignored

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Dear Editor:
The call for equal treatment by the workers of this country cannot be ignored. It is a call for a better approach in governing this nation and would be for the benefit of all. The welfare of the sugar, nurses, bauxite and all workers are of equal import. Any adverse socioeconomic impact in the communities where these workers reside is no less deserving of attention to be treated in an equal manner.

Today the nurses are protesting for improved working conditions, such as better salary, personal protective equipment and allowances. Their demands ought not to be ignored or politicised, however tempting it may be or the political fodder that could be achieved.  It remains an unfortunate aspect of this nation’s culture where the protest of one group is justified as the other is ridiculed, where the welfare of one is considered more important than the welfare of the other. The society cannot continue with this thinking neither government be accused of practicing unequal treatment.

It is vital to this nation’s survival that workers be treated and respected for who they are, i.e. equal citizens with equal inalienable rights. The case of the nurses is deserving of immediate attention. They should not be made to feel that their service to this nation takes second place to any other. They should not be made to feel that any category of worker is of more or lesser importance for each category is vital to the welfare, production and development of the nation and must be treated in like manner.

Nurses should not be made to feel that sugar workers are more important than them and vice versa. Those placards are speaking to us and they cannot be ignored. The attention the government is paying to sugar workers and the socioeconomic impact in their communities must be given to nurses because they are equally deserving. This goes for every worker. Government in every society sets the tone for how workers will be treated by the government as an employer and protector of the laws.

It does no good to this nation for any government to stand accused of engaging in discriminatory treatment against any category of workers. Where in our society labour, ethnicity and politics have intertwined, it is way past time to get rid of this toxic brew by moving to uphold the rights of all and treat all with deserving respect and dignity.  We must return to a practice in this country of treating the working class equally and as is guaranteed in the Constitution of Guyana. As the call is being to honour this sacred tenet for the nurses, attention is also being brought to the case of the workers employed at the Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated (BCGI).

As the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU) acknowledges negotiation with this company was last at the arbitration stage, and expects it to be executed by this administration soonest, note is taken of the recent public pronouncement by Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat that RUSAL has approached the Government for financial assistance to reopen the operations of Kwakwani and Aroaima.

It is left to be seen if this government gives consideration to this matter as it has done in reopening the sugar estates, though it is preferred the State takes over the company given the notorious reputation of RUSAL as an employer and corporate citizen when it comes to treating with Guyanese, local labour, the Constitution and Laws of Guyana. Guyana’s bauxite has marketable value, and this is confirmed from the performance of BOSAI and First Bauxite, who are operating in Linden and Demerara/Essequibo Rivers. The problem of BCGI goes back to 2009, more than a decade. It has been this long since the socioeconomic impact of BCGI workers and their communities have been adversely affected.

The case of equal treatment must be placed on the front burner as a matter of priority and national import.

Regards
Lincoln Lewis

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