GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) – Opposition Leader David Granger says 2014 should be regarded as the “Year for Workers” adding that Guyana’s economic future lies in their hands.
In an end of year message, Granger said that many workers here were underemployed and unhappy and not as productive as they could be.
“Workers face unsatisfactory labour relations in the sugar and mining industries and in the public and private sectors. Artisanal fisherfolk, craftsmen, small farmers and miners found themselves in difficult circumstances during 2013. Life must be better for all in 2014,” he said.
Granger, who leads the opposition grouping – A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) – said that the new year must be one “in which our working people should be able to look forward to a good life.
“It should be one in which they could look forward to living in safety, to working for ‘living wages’ to cope with the cost of living and to enjoying adequate social protection in their old age.
“Guyana’s ‘Year for Workers’ must be one in which workers can feel free to join trade unions of their choice; in which collective bargaining agreements between their employers and their unions will be respected and in which the state will enforce labour laws fairly, but firmly, to protect them from adversity and from delinquent employers,” he added.
