PNCR/APNU’s LABOUR DAY MESSAGE 2025
On this Labour Day 2025, the PNCR and APNU salute our workers in all sectors of our economy and society. Let us again recognize that no society can ever survive, let alone prosper, without the toil, skills, struggles, and commitment of the working class.
We in Guyana have enshrined this truth in Article 21 of our Constitution, which states “The source of the growth of social wealth and of the well-being of the people, and of each individual, is the labour of the people.” As such, our workers must be valued, honored and celebrated. They themselves must be guaranteed a high quality of life with all their rights and freedoms protected and promoted.
Yet, under the PPP regime, the reality is starkly different. Even with oil wealth, the ranks of the working poor continue to swell. The rights of workers and their elected union representatives continue to be attacked and eroded by a government obsessed with domination. Too many of our workers still experience a life of destitution, insufficiencies, and hardships.
We, in the PNCR and APNU, therefore, support the demands of the working class of Guyana for incomes and benefits to ensure a decent and secure living standard. We support their demands for their rights and dignities to be respected. We support their demands for Guyana’s oil wealth to be fairly distributed in the interest of all citizens, and only for the friends, families and favorites of the ruling PPP party.
The spirit of Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow, the founder of the modern trade union movement in Guyana, must be kept alive. Under the PPP regime, the struggle must continue. On this Labour Day, workers must let the government know that their frustration is mounting and their patience is wearing thin. Workers must keep the pressure on this government even in its last remaining months in office.
As the next government, we, in the PNCR and APNU, will guarantee each worker a living wage and all households a livable income. As our bottomline, we will raise the minimum wage to $200,000 a month, raise the tax-free threshold to $400,000/mth for all income earners (including the self-employed) and increase the salaries of government employees by up to 35%. We see these investments not only as our moral responsibility to the workers and people of Guyana but also as stimulants or drivers of socio-economic growth and development.
The more people participate as workers, business owners, producers, creators, investors, consumers, and citizens, the more robust the economy and the more just and equitable the society.
On this Labour Day, let us commit to rescuing Guyana from a government that is anti-worker and anti-poor. We, in the PNCR and APNU, will continue to defend and stand with the working class of Guyana.
Salute to the workers of Guyana!
