Guyana’s workers have a right to enjoy the sweat of their labour. That means more than receiving salary at the end of the month. It means decent wages, secure employment, safe workplaces, social protection and a meaningful opportunity to participate in the economic wealth being generated in the country.
Guyana is experiencing extraordinary economic expansion, largely driven by petroleum production. The World Bank reports that GDP increased by 43.4 per cent in 2024, while GDP per capita reached US$29,883. Yet the Bank also notes that the latest available poverty data remain dated and that food prices have been rising faster than overall inflation, placing particular pressure on lower-income households.
The central question, therefore, is not simply how fast the economy is growing. It is who is benefiting from that growth.
Workers cannot be expected to applaud impressive GDP figures while struggling to meet the cost of food, housing, transportation, education and healthcare. National wealth must translate into improved living standards for the people whose labour keeps the economy functioning.
Guyana’s own Constitution provides an important foundation. Article 13 identifies inclusionary democracy as a means of giving citizens and their organisations greater opportunities to participate in State decision-making, particularly on matters affecting their well-being. That principle must have economic meaning.
Workers must therefore move beyond being spectators to national development. They must organise.
Trade unions must become stronger instruments of collective bargaining and worker education. The International Labour Organization recognises collective bargaining as a means through which workers can secure wage improvements and share in productivity gains. Guyana has also ratified ILO Conventions protecting freedom of association and collective bargaining.
Workers should demand regular wage negotiations, transparent salary structures, equal pay for work of equal value, safe working conditions and meaningful representation in decisions affecting their livelihoods.
They should also insist that the country’s natural-resource wealth produces long-term economic assets, not merely short-term consumption. Oil wealth should help finance quality education, healthcare, affordable housing, pensions, skills development, productive industries and opportunities for future generations.
This is not an argument against business or investment. It is an argument for an economy in which workers, employers and the State recognise their mutual responsibilities.
The Government itself has acknowledged that Guyana’s changing economy requires an overhaul of its labour laws, with the Labour Law Review now underway. That review should not be treated as a technical exercise. Workers must be organised and present in the process, demanding legislation that reflects the realities of today’s economy.
The Ministry of Labour’s mandate already includes collective bargaining, dispute resolution, occupational safety and health, trade-union certification and tripartite consultation. Workers and their organisations must use these institutions rather than surrendering their rights to political promises.
The national minimum wage is currently $347 per hour, or $60,147 monthly under the 2022 order. A legal minimum, however, should never become the ceiling toward which decent wages are dragged.
Workers must organise workplace by workplace, industry by industry and community by community. They must educate themselves about the national budget, natural-resource revenues, taxation, productivity and labour legislation. They must demand accountability from employers and government alike.
Most importantly, workers must understand their collective strength. The wealth of Guyana is not created by politicians alone, nor by capital alone. It is created by people who build, teach, drive, farm, nurse, manufacture, administer, construct, operate machinery and keep the country moving.
Those who produce the wealth must organise to ensure they have a meaningful share of it. It is the legitimate claim of labour to the fruits of labour.
