The enormous wealth from Guyana’s oil and gas is not reaching the workers. The revenue from Guyana’s oil and gas has not only placed the country among the fastest growing economies in the world but sees a projected 30% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for 2023. In the midst of this wealth, the cost of living is spiraling out of control, workers remain underpaid, poor, and struggling to make ends meet.
Recent market prices reflect steep increases, in some instances more than 100 percent on essential items in one year. Some of these prices are seen below:
- Bora: from $200 to $600
- Sugar: from $80 to $200
- Caribee rice: from $1,300 to $1,950
- Fernleaf milk: from $460 to $800
- Canola oil: from $2,600 to $4,700
- 2 litre Coke: from $380 to $520
- Bread: from $240 to $360
These prices are high, unfair to the workers, and could be equated to economic injustice. The fact that wages/salaries have not kept pace with cost of living and inflation means workers are spending more dollars for less items and services. A consequence of this is that on a daily basis workers are forced to make hard and difficult choices in sacrificing essentials.
The cost of living remains a major issue that requires equal involvement of all relevant interest groups, i.e., labour, private sector, and government. Differences must be put aside to develop ways and means to improve the livelihood and quality of living of the working class.
The cost of living must be attacked in a very structured manner.
Government can no longer act unconcerned, and workers are being called on to take seriously the responsibility of drawing attention to their economic plight, and demanding the wealth of this nation be used to improve the livelihood of the working class.
One such measure is Professor Clive Thomas’ proposal to give every household a cash grant of $1 million (US$5000) yearly.
The Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) is also of the opinion that the wealth is sufficient enough for direct cash transfer to be paid to every adult citizen.
Government must provide the relevant services, and resources that will improve the standard of living of every citizen, regardless of class, colour, race or geographic location.
The government must engage trade unions in state agencies in collective bargaining. It must set the tone for addressing the growing economic deprivation. As the country’s largest employer and custodian of the nation’s law, principal protector of the citizens’ right, the government must act now!
The money accrued from our oil and gas sector belongs to every citizen and therefore it must be distributed to the citizens directly and indirectly, in a non-bipartisan way.
We cannot become complacent when the gap between the rich and the poor is increasing and there is no livable wage with adjustments to the tax threshold etc.
If we continue the trajectory of increased prices and decreased value in income then the future looks bleak and our labour force will seek greener pastures, allowing for the invasion of a new labour force whose desperation may allow them to accept substandard wages and standards of living. This must not happen!
To this end, every single citizen has a responsibility to hold the government accountable for his/her standard of living and lack of improvement. We must be engaged, and the potency of our engagement depends on the potency that each of us brings to the discussion.
