Trade union recognition Bill passed
- expands ‘voice of labour’ – Minister Nadir
Georgetown, GINA, January 9, 2009
The National Assembly last evening, at its first Sitting for the year, debated and passed the Trade Union Recognition (Amendment) Bill 25/2008. The Bill was laid in the House on December 22 and came up for debate on December 29, but was put off due to an objection raised by Opposition Leader Robert Corbin.
In presenting the Bill Labour Minister Manzoor Nadir argued that the amendment’s main principle would strengthen the laws with respect to representing workers in Guyana. Referring specifically to the amendments to sections (1) which provides for the general title and (2) where the piece of adjustment is being made to bring the country’s laws in line with international norms and conventions. He further argued that the Bill ensures that the ‘real voice’ of the workers is heard.
The Minister explained that the current legislation, “speaks to the largest association of trade unions.” He argued that sticking with that, can lead to the majority of workers’ voices not being heard because, “the present formulation handcuffs us to dealing with only one organization, that is the Guyana Trades Union Congress,” he said
“If we stay with the current formulation, if we do not change or define the voice of the worker we are not going to be doing justice to this democracy we are speaking about,” the Minister emphasized.
He pointed out that in Guyana labour has many voices and the amendment will ensure that, “there is loud and clear voice of labour. Not the voice of any one organisation that claim to represent the majority of labour.”
The Minister reminded that unions in Guyana have two associations, the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) and the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG), but the present legislation does not recognize FITUG which represents 60 percent of the unionized workers.
He further argued that FITUG is unofficially recognized by State agencies and several international non-Governmental organizations including the European Union (EU) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) since they fund programmes of the organization.
On the question of consultation with stakeholders prior to the Bill being laid the Minister contended that his Ministry initiated dialogue on this proposed Bill and six others in January 2007.
He told the House that the Chief Labour Officer, Mohamed Akeel had written to the employers’ association, Consultative Association of Guyanese Industries (CAGI), and workers’ organisations GTUC and the FITUG asking for their contributions/comments on the draft Bill by February 2007. The General Secretary of the GTUC Lincoln Lewis, in his reply requested more time to peruse the draft before commenting.
He explained that after several interactions it was agreed that April 3, 2007 would be the cut off date for submissions. After no response was received from the GTUC at that date, the Chief Labour Officer again wrote to them on May 17, and on July 25 the Bill was re-circulated with some adjustments.
Nadir said that in addition to the official correspondence between the Ministry and the GTUC, opportunity was provided for consultation at the tripartite meeting between the Ministry, workers’ and employers’ organizations, 64 of which were held between the drafting of the Bill and its presentation in the National Assembly.
At the tripartite meetings Patrick Yarde, then President of GTUC, had raised objections to the Bill which led to the ILO being consulted for clarification. He said that the FITUG and CAGI had shared their recommendations on the Bill with the Ministry.
The Labour Minister explained the efforts of the Ministry to receive input from the GTUC. He said that following the postponement of the second reading of the Bill on December 29, and because of the objections raised by the Opposition, another draft copy of the Bill was sent to the GTUC with a request for a meeting on January 5, to garner their input.
GTUC representatives who attended that meeting said that they were not all in possession of copies of the Bill and therefore, the meeting was adjourned to the following day after they were each provided with copies.
At the meeting the following day Gillian Burton, the union’s president requested more time to peruse the Bill while Norris Whitter, the GTUC vice-president, advised that he was ‘unprepared to discuss a Bill that would reduce the voice of the GTUC’.
The Minister assured that every effort was made by Government over the last two years to provide the GTUC with the opportunity to share its concerns about the Bill.
Other issues which related to the amendment, the Minister noted, was the democratization of the labour movement in Guyana. “It defines how we treat with the voice of the workers and the voice of the employer,” he said.
The Bill requires that recognition be given to the most representative organisations of workers and employers, Minister Nadir noted and assured that the amendment being proposed will not exclude any representative organisation of workers or employers in Guyana.
PPP/C Member Norman Whittaker, in calling for support of the Bill reiterated that the Bill upheld the rights of workers to be represented by a union of their choice.
He argued that the Bill sought to remedy a flaw in existing the legislation and was in fact making provisions called for by the GTUC when the Bill was first tabled in the National Assembly by the PPP/C administration in 1993 in that it allows for the Trade Union Recognition Board to comprise three representatives of organized labour and three representatives of employers’ organizations, removing the representation of Government on the Board.
He further pointed out that the extension of the time it takes for the Board to approve an application for recognition of a union from the two months that now obtains to four months, was on the request of the present Board as it reported that two months were inadequate to complete all the necessary administrative processes necessary for the recognition of a union and could result in unnecessary litigation.
The other speaker for the PPP/C Komal Chand, posited that the Bill mainly dealt with the certification and recognition procedure of the Board. He argued that the Bill would expand the participation of workers as it, “removes the monopoly of the GTUC from the control of the Board.”
He stated that contrary to what is being peddled in the press, by some members of the GTUC, the Bill will allow all organized workers’ organizations, including the GTUC, to be represented on the Board.
Calling the present legislation unjust, Chand argued that the GTUC which it legally recognized as the voice of all organized labour in Guyana has a membership of 12 unions representing some 16,000 workers while the Federation of Trade Unions of Guyana (FTUG), which is not legally recognized, has a membership of four unions but represents over 39,000 workers. The failure of Government to remedy this situation, he argued, would continue the imposition of minority rule.
The Opposition had earlier refused to participate in the debate, choosing to ‘walkout’ as a result of a ruling by the Speaker Ralph Ramkarran, to allow the debate against an objection raised by People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Leader Robert Corbin that the debate on the Bill was unconstitutional in that it did not confirm to the tenets of the Constitution which requires consultation with stakeholders before a law affecting them is passed.
He said that he had received correspondence from GTUC’s Gillian Burton in which she claimed that the meetings with the Labour Minister were to clarify aspects of the Bill and could not be considered as consultations therefore, there was no consultation.
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Opposition claims on COP’s appointment spurious- attempt to distract from more serious issue-Dr. Luncheon
Georgetown, GINA, January 9, 2009
Head of the Presidential Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon in response to a question asked by a media operative on Government’s response on speculations made by the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) on the appointment of Henry Greene as Commissioner of Police being unconstitutional said that it is what he believes to be spurious elements.
“If Mr. Corbin feels that there is formidable evidence that the Constitution was ignored or compromised in the whole process of appointing the Commissioner then as a trial lawyer I suppose he knows that in addition to making noises in the press, the definitive intervention is move to have a ruling on the matter,” Dr. Luncheon said.
He was at the time briefing members the media at his weekly post-Cabinet press conference held at the Office of the President.
He noted that it is the kind of thing that persons must not allow to distract their attention from what is going on in the security sector.
“I am not saying that his protests are intended to distract us from the more serious matters, but questioning the appointment by the Public Service Commission, whose structure composition is a mater of Parliamentary consideration right now, seems to me to be ill advised and definitely not consistent with what the issues are that face us,” Dr. Luncheon said.
He noted that it is not really whether the Commissioner is appointed according to Constitution, but rather it is the work of the Police Force and is the way in which public sentiments can be mobilized in support of the Police Force and law enforcement officers.
Dr. Luncheon pointed out that he doesn’t think that Mr. Corbin has given full thought to the matter, noting that these are the little things that conjure people’s mind that something indecent is going on.
This, the Cabinet Secretary said, could indeed in one way or the other affect people’s resolve to be a party to the work of the State, Government or the Police Force.
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PNCR’s walk out of National Assembly condemned by Dr. Luncheon
Georgetown, GINA, January 9, 2009.
Head of the Presidential Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon told members of the media today during a press conference at the Office of the President (OP) that the abandonment of the Parliament session is usually associated with an extremely grave matter; one that offends the fundamentals.
Last evening during the first sitting of the National Assembly for 2009, the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) walked out during the second reading of the Trade Union Recognition (Amendment) Bill 2008. The Bill was first heard during the previous sitting on December 29.
The Bill was passed in their absence and the PNCR returned to the sitting after.
Dr. Luncheon stated that the, “Trade Union Recognition (Amendment) Bill 2008 addresses issues surrounding organized workers, the organization of workers in unions and the organization of unions in union federations. It is also important to note that in addition to dealing precisely with that matter that in instant national legislation it treats the TUC as its sole statutory voice of organized labour and as far as we know, this is patently inconsistent with the current realities.”
Dr. Luncheon noted that the PNCR’s actions in abandoning the Parliamentary session but “not abandoning the premises” clearly questions the seriousness of the Party and raises concerns based on how regular the party resorts to this act.
“I think that somewhere along the line of the debate the Opposition indicated that they will be pursuing at the level of the Constitutional Court, some redress for themselves and for those interested in organized labour that they seem to defend… the leader of the Opposition had said that any efforts to undermine, to remove the monopoly that the TUC enjoys in the statute governing labour and representation laws and the constitution, he would resist,” Dr. Luncheon said.
The PNCR has walked out of the National Assembly on many occasions in the past raising much concern among supporters and non-supporters of the party.
One such occasion was on February 14, 2008 when the PNCR boycotted the debate on the Lusignan massacre following a call by the Speaker for the standing order to be suspended to make way for debate on a motion ‘Brutal and horrific killings of Guyanese.’
On October 17, 2008 the PNCR walked out of Parliamentary shortly before the Interception of Communications Bill 2008 (19/2008) which allows for the interception of electronic communications under defined circumstances were passed in the National Assembly.
On March 15, 2004 another sitting of the National Assembly was marred by a walk out staged by the Opposition leader, Robert Corbin and the PNCR. The Party walked out the National Assembly after a motion to adjourn the agenda for the day to discuss what the party calls an urgent matter of public importance was refused by Speaker of the National Assembly, Ralph Ramkarran.
Four days after that there was yet another PNCR walk out and demonstration exercise outside the National Assembly. A number of Bills were ratified by the House on that day including the Audit Bill of 2004, which was passed after being read for the third time.
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GMC assisting in marketing farmers’ produce
- in light of heavy rainfall
Georgetown, GINA, January 9, 2009
With reports emanating about shortages of vegetables and fruits and prices being affected, the Ministry of Agriculture has been taking steps to alleviate the situation.
Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud speaking at a press conference yesterday said that the new Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) is engaging farmers some of whom may want to move their produce whilst others may want to find markets for them.
The Minister added that for several weeks GMC has been engaging farmers in seeking markets and looking at opportunities in this regard due to the fact that the “Grow More Food Campaign” saw an increase in food production around the country.
This initiative, he said, was based on the fact that he wanted to ensure that the rainy season did not damage produce and that farmers could find markets.
He explained that usually in the rainy season there are certain disruptions in vegetable production. In this light, he said, what the new GMC has been doing, since some areas are more affected than others in terms of availability, is identifying those areas where supply and production have not been affected, looking at areas where there is a dip in production and allowing for supplies to come into those.
The Minister said GMC will take this initiative a step further by facilitating a retail arrangement where farmers in Naamryck, Region Three, in Essequibo, in Region 10 will provide produce to a retail outlet in Georgetown.
With respect to crop production, Minister Persaud stated, GMC has been advising farmers in some areas especially those who plant in the high areas to capitalize on certain crops such as vegetables because in the low-lying vulnerable areas there is a fall out or reduced production.
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