LABOR STRUGGLES TO UNIFY AS GOG SEIZES INITIATIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GEORGETOWN 000158

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12598: N/A
TAGS: ELAB PGOV GY
SUBJECT: LABOR STRUGGLES TO UNIFY AS GOG SEIZES INITIATIVE



1. SUMMARY: A number of simmering labor issues have emerged
in the run-up to the elections. The Guyana Public Service
Union (GPSU) is in an ongoing struggle for government salary
arbitration with unclear ends and limited impact to date.
The Guyana Trade Union Congress (GTUC) is contesting a
proposal to amend the Trade Union Recognition Act that would
effectively remove it from the Trade Union Recognition and
Certification Board. Meanwhile, the Guyana Teachers Union
(GTU) staged a one-day sickout February 1 to protest for a
wage increase. A climate of divisive racial politics and
historical suspicion of organized labor's motives undermine
the potential for reconciliation in the near-term. END
SUMMARY.

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REVIEW OF RECENT ACTIVITY
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2. The new year has seen several actions on the part of
Guyana's labor unions. On January 19 parliament tabled a
bill to amend the Trade Union Recognition Act of 1997 that
proposes to replace the current law's requirement to consult
with the most representative trade union association (i.e.
the GTUC) in making appointments to the Trade Union
Recognition and Certification Board with a requirement to
consult the 5 largest unions. This has encountered strong
opposition from the umbrella GTUC, which claims the bill is
an attempt to pack the board with representatives more loyal
to the government. Several unions, including the GPSU, the
GTU, and the Commercial and Clerical Workers Union, picketed
outside parliament on the day of the bill's first reading
January 19.


3. On February 1, the Guyana Teachers Union staged a "stress
day" to protest the government's handling of wage
negotiations. Participation among teachers in urban
Georgetown and New Amsterdam was reportedly widespread,
although teachers in rural schools did not appear to
actively participate.


4. On February 8, the GPSU staged a lunchtime march through
downtown Georgetown to call for salary arbitration and
protest the appointment of contract workers in the civil
service. Turnout was estimated at around two hundred, well
below expectations. Several membership groupings failed to
appear, including employees of the University of Guyana.
Opposition MP Stanley Ming and third party candidate Peter
Ramsaroop marched alongside GPSU president Patrick Yarde.

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THE ISSUES
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5. According to Yarde, the PSU's major grievance is the
GOG's failure to negotiate civil service salaries or to pass
the issue to arbitration. Parliament approved a 7% wage
increase for the public sector in 2005, which the GPSU
interprets as a unilateral move to undermine its efforts to
extract better conditions. The Permanent Secretary of the
Public Service Ministry, Nanda Gopaul, counters that the
issue is simply one of numbers. In addition to straining
Guyana's budget in the face of restraints on civil service
salaries required by international funding institutions,
raising public sector salaries any higher risks outpacing
wage growth in the private sector. Gopaul also points to
Guyana's last experience with arbitration, the Armstrong
Arbitration Tribunal of 1999-2000, which resulted in awards
that exceeded the amount budgeted by the Ministry of
Finance. Gopaul also argues that the GOG does not have the
authority to negotiate without parliamentary approval, and
the PSU has rejected efforts to establish an independent
commission to advise parliament on the matter.


6. As far as the Trade Union Recognition Bill is concerned,
GTUC President Andrew Garnett argues that amending the Trade
Union Recognition Act to include the PNC-aligned GPSU, GTU
and the Guyana Labor Union (GLU),which is presided over by
opposition leader Robert Corbin, among the five recognized
unions is a deceptively inclusive gesture on the part of the
GOG. Each of these unions refuses to engage in any
meaningful negotiations with the government, leaving the
remaining two unions on the amended board, the Guyana
Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) and the National
Association of Clerical, Commercial and Industrial Employees
(NAACIE) as the only effective representatives of labor. The
latter two unions are closely aligned with the ruling PPP/C;
the president of GAWU, Komal Chand, is a member of the PPP
Executive Committee. Garnett argues that the Labor
Ministry's provision of the bill to the GTUC just two days
before it was tabled in parliament indicates the government
is negotiating in bad faith.


7. The GOG counters that the GTUC membership is largely made
up of "paper unions" that do not have a broad-based
constituency. As a result, it views the amendment as an
effort to specify vague language in the current bill that
refers to consultation with the most representative union.
Chief Labor Officer Mohammed Akeel also argues that a 1988
constitutional amendment, passed after a GTUC-negotiated
wage settlement that exceeded the government's ability to
pay, eliminated the legal obligation to consult with the
TUC. Instead, the government will continue to negotiate
through a tripartite commission of labor, industry, and
government representatives.

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THE POLITICAL CONTEXT
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8. Underlying these issues is a political context of
suspicion and division within the labor movement in Guyana,
much of it deeply personal. The GOG roundly condemns the
GPSU actions as politically motivated. Gopaul provided
EconOff a briefing paper ostensibly based on information
received from dissident members of the GPSU that alleges
that union is planning to disrupt the country with the
support of "the Buxton resistance group" in the coming
months. The statement also alleges that the U.S. diaspora is
financing arrangements in the hopes that the GPSU can act
along the lines of the political strikes of the 1960's.
While the credibility of such claims is uncertain, this
sentiment is indicative of the long history of suspicion
that clouds labor unions in Guyana. Gopaul further insists
that the GPSU missed a "golden opportunity" for compromise
18 months ago, when Yarde apparently undermined negotiations
with the Office of the President by blasting President
Jagdeo on an a television talk show.


9. For his part, Yarde accuses the GOG of heavy-handedness
in its handling of the union's demonstrations to date. Yarde
labels the heavy police presence along the GPSU's February 8
march route as a "blatant act of intimidation" and blames it
for the low turnout. Ramsaroop has also condemned the police
presence as adding to tensions. Yarde also insists that he
received word from private sector sources that President
Jagdeo has said he would just as soon eliminate the GPSU if
he could find a way to do so.

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WHAT COMES NEXT?
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10. The GPSU has announced a second lunchtime march planned
for the same route on February 15. Yarde has stated his
commitment to non-violent industrial action, and the
prospects of major civil disruption seem unlikely for
several reasons. First, the low turnout at the previous
march, be it due to intimidation or a lack of coordination
within the public service union, suggests the mandate for
major industrial action on the part of the PSU's membership
is weak. Second, the wage increase seems to have undercut
the union's efforts to mobilize its sagging membership.
Finally, Yarde observed that resource constraints may limit
the GPSU's ability to sustain action along the lines of the
57-day strike in 1999, after which the union lost its
ability to automatically collect membership dues as an
agency shop. Yarde is also working to improve relations with
the GTUC. Meanwhile, the GTU reportedly had a productive
meeting with Chief Cabinet Secretary Roger Luncheon on
February 13 and agreed to meet again to discuss maters such
as paid leave, class size, and allowances.


11. Garnett informed EconOff on February 14 that Chief
Cabinet Secretary Roger Luncheon agreed to delay the second
reading of the Trade Union Recognition Amendment Bill,
originally scheduled for February 16. Later this month
Luncheon is expected to provide the GTUC with a list of
unspecified conditions under which the GOG would withdraw
the bill. Privately, both Gopaul of the Public Service
Ministry and the GTUC's Garnett are amenable to working with
each other. Gopaul confided to EconOff that President Jagdeo
has expressed a willingness to withdraw support for the
amended Trade Union Recognition Act if the unions would be
willing to come together to build consensus. Garnett
expressed a strong desire to keep the GTUC free of
association with any political party.

BULLEN