The PNCR says that the rejection of Prime Minister Sam Hinds by the workers from the GTUC May Day rally at Critchlow Labour College on Thursday resulted from what it termed “his disrespect for the participants at the rally”.
In addition, the party said, the workers were also venting their anger over government’s refusal to address many of their problems, including the withdrawal of the annual subvention to the CLC over the past two years.
The PNCR in a press release said that it had to correct the attempt by the state media “to link the Prime Minister’s rejection by the workers to the PNCR protest action against the dictatorial excesses of the Jagdeo regime.”
The party said further that Prime Minister Hinds, who was performing the functions of President, was an invited guest to the GTUC rally and was seen at the commencement of the march meddling with workers at Parade Ground.
According to the PNCR, he, however, chose to arrive at the GTUC rally almost at the end of the proceedings after all of the other speakers, with the exception of the representative of the Caribbean Congress of Labour, had completed their presentations and while the President of the GTUC was delivering the closing segment of her speech.
“Not only was the Prime Minister late, but when he arrived with sirens blazing, the GTUC President could not be heard and the flow of events was disrupted when the Police Band immediately broke into the tune of the National Anthem. The entire gathering stood in respect for the National Anthem,” the release stated.
It added that the workers in the crowd were already motivated by earlier speeches which had emphasized their problems such as spiralling food prices and the rising cost of living, the trampling of the bargaining rights of unions by the government, the reckless dismissal of workers, discrimination in the promotion of public servants, the government’s withdrawal of the subvention to the Critchlow Labour College and the failure of the government to seriously address these problems.
The PNCR noted that the President of the GTUC, during her address, had just reminded the workers of these problems including the need to release Oliver Hinckson before CARIFESTA, when the sirens began to disrupt her presentation. Hinckson was charged on March 11 with uttering seditious statements and advocating a terrorist act.
Further, the party stated, it appeared to the gathering that the Prime Minister was arriving from the direction of the National Park where the rival rally held by FITUG was being held.
“Workers obviously regarded this late arrival and disturbance as disrespect for the President of the GTUC and the workers of Guyana. It was therefore after the playing of the anthem that the workers began a unified and deafening chant for the Prime Minister to leave the proceedings,” the PNCR said.
Moreover, efforts by the President of the GTUC to restore order failed as the workers made it clear that the Prime Minister had to leave first. After it was obvious to him that his presence was unwelcome, he eventually left the rally to the chants of “Out de Place”. At that stage, the proceedings became orderly and the President of the GTUC was able to conclude her presentation, the party related.
According to the PNCR, when it was learnt that Hinds had been invited, many workers expressed the view that the Prime Minister and acting President would have arrived early like the Minister of Labour Manzoor Nadir, and taken the opportunity to announce to the workers measures that government proposed to implement to relieve the workers from their present burdens.
The workers, the party contended, could only interpret “the Prime Minister’s late arrival as indifference to their plight and an unwillingness to deal with the issues affecting them. Their reaction to these circumstances was therefore understandable.”
It is time, the PNCR added, that national leaders recognize that they are servants of the people and not vice-versa.
The PNCR also argued that the Prime Minister, who is one of the most senior officials of the PPP/C administration and an experienced politician, must know that his late arrival at an important event such as the GTUC May Day rally would have provoked a reaction from the workers.
