FITUG Gears For Day Of Protest
TWENTY-SIX sugar workers were this week detained by Police and put on station bail as food shortages protests mount in the sugar belt and dissident trade unions prepare to shut down the country Friday.
General Secretary of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU), Mr. Komal Chand said the 26 union members were arrested Monday when about 200 Rose Hall sugar workers marched 14 miles to New Amsterdam to protest the continuing food and other shortages.
The 26 were placed on $100 station bail each and ordered to report at The Reliance Police Station in the region on Monday, Chand said. Official sources pointed out the march was undertaken without Police permission.
More demonstrations took place yesterday with workers again marching from Rose Hall to New Amsterdam to picket government offices.
Chand reported strike action yesterday spread to Albion and Port Mourant estates in solidarity with the Rose Hall actions. Guyana Sugar Corporation (Guysuco) officials confirmed the strikes are affecting the three estates but were yesterday unable to say how badly operations had been stymied.
As government corporations and others prepared for traditional Mashramani street jumpups tomorrow after tonight’s flag-raising and Presidential address, the Roman Catholic and Anglican Bishops , and lawyers give tacit backing for the Friday general strike summoned by the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG).
The major opposition parties have urged support from their members for the stay-at- home FITUG call to protest deteriorating economic and social conditions which they have blamed on government.
FITUG members have backed two public meetings in the City last week with visits to workplaces and meetings with workers to garner support for its stand. Yesterday, alliance leaders distributed handbills seeking support of taxi-drivers, vendors in the municipal markets and others.
Secretary of the Guyana Bar Association (GBA), Mr. Ralph Ramkarran, yesterday disclosed the Association’s Bar Council had agreed to a FITUG request for support and GBA members have been asked to back the move.
The Association has asked the Chancellor, Chief Justice and the Chief Magistrate to “facilitate” lawyers who would consequentially need adjournments of cases fixed for Friday.
Except for divorce cases, for which one lawyer might appear for all the others, most attorneys are not expected to be in court Friday, Ramkarran said.
If the legal heads do not agree to adjournments, the cases could be struck out, he disclosed.
In a joint letter read in churches Sunday, Bishops Randolph George and Benedict Singh said the food and fuel shortages, electricity outages and the transportation nightmare had made this Lent “a reason of extreme pain and sacrifices.”
The Bishops said the FITUG call was action “from a group of responsible Guyanese” and forced “us to note that our problems are not fundamentally economic but have to do with relationships.”
They urged prayers “to direct us towards finding just solutions to our problems” and hoped that this Lent may “lead us all to the creation of a wholesome and better life for all Guyanese.”
A statement from FITUG Chairman, Mr. George Daniels said, “it is imperative therefore for Guyanese to understand that the struggle which is being waged by FITUG, is to ensure a better standard of life for all.”
“Your protest could bring about a change for the better in our beloved country,” Daniels appealed.
FITUG represents more than two-thirds of organised labour and its members are the Guyana Public Service Union, the Clerical and Commercial Workers’ Union, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union, the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees, the University of Guyana Workers’ Union, the Guyana Bauxite Supervisors’ Union and the Guyana Mine Workers’