Dear Editor,
Part one of Dunce Thugs, Druggist and Hit Men Morphing into Scrape Heads: Myth or Something Devious to Guyana and Created by the PPP/C Government identified the educational failures through the “No Child Left Behind” policy and the predatory nature of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C). This second series addresses the absence of labour incentives.
The nature of the PPP/C government is not to create long-term industries to facilitate economic stability, growth, and development of Guyanese youth, but rather to promote division and dismantle existing institutions.
Unionism creates an opportunity for workers to bargain with government or organizations for a better standard of living through negotiations for improved working conditions, wage and salary increases, vacation packages, promotions, and benefits within the organisation or government. However, these actions could lead to strikes and the slowing of commerce.
Unions that did not fit the government’s agenda were slowly dismantled, and the government agencies underfunded. The PPP/C government began attacking labour unions by stifling the government’s payment of union dues deducted from workers’ salaries. Labour unions with a larger percentage of Afro-Guyanese members were targeted, while unions with predominantly Indo-Guyanese membership were left untouched and have been able to thrive.
In Guyana, there are now several restaurants operating with employees who have no union representation and are unaware that it is beneficial for them to be unionized.
This deliberate plan was aimed at creating a population dependent on government handouts as supplemental income to their low wages and poor working conditions. The government then has the opportunity to go nationwide and increase miscellaneous spending, facilitating the theft of public funds and assets during the process of distributing cash grants and supplemental payments.
In that sense, youths have become vulnerable to transactions such as “money for my vote.” They move from job to job in search of fair treatment but receive none. Many cannot benefit from the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) since restaurants are not remitting NIS payments. As a result, the government is now distributing vouchers to supplement eye testing and other medical services, which ultimately drives young people toward PPP/C associates who have opened hospitals and pharmacies across Guyana.
Yours truly,
Andrea Mitchell
