Sugar workers at the Rose Hall and Providence estates yesterday marched through the streets of New Amsterdam, protesting the rise in food prices before picketing the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) office and the Guyana Power & Light Incorporated (GPL).
The protestors assembled at Tacama turn, East Berbice at around 7 am bearing placards with the words, “starvation in Berbice,” “high cost of living” and “reduce the bills,” they proceeded along Main Street.
Even though the police deemed the march illegal, saying no permission was granted and tried to prevent them from going ahead, the workers stood their ground.
The police finally allowed them to continue following pleading by some of the workers who insisted that it was a “peaceful protest” and it was for a just cause.
They then made their way along Strand, NA, stopping briefly at the GPL office, shouting “GPL has to go.” They also demanded a reduction in “tariffs and units” and argued that the charges were hiked “for no reason.”
However, no official was around to address their concerns. They then assembled at the NIS office where they aired their grievances loudly about a proposal to raise the pensionable age from 60 to 65.
The workers also shouted that they are dissatisfied with the way the NIS has been handling their claims. Some pointed out that they worked for a number of years and that even though their NIS is deducted promptly every month, their contributions do not reflect that.
One man related that he worked with the Guyana Sugar Corporation for the past 25 years but when he checked with the NIS recently, their records proved that he made only 300 contributions.
The protestors plan to continue the demonstration today in front of Freedom House in NA but stated that their effort is not political nor are they “against any individual.”
They called on government to remove the Value Added Tax (VAT) from the prices since a lot of taxes are already being deducted from their salary.
According to them, the prices for basic food items have recently skyrocketed; the price for peas has increased from $60 to $130 and the rice price which was $300 has now doubled.
This newspaper visited that Guyana Agricultural & General Workers’ Union but an official there said he was not aware that the workers had planned the march…
With regard to the food prices, a government official told Stabroek News that the increase in prices for food items is not only as a result of VAT but that the prices have also increased in the world market.
Last evening, GPL in a release advised residents from Seawell to Banana Land and from parts of New Amsterdam whose bills have continued to be estimated from December to February to check with GPL’s Region Six Commercial Office at New Amsterdam to have their billing queries resolved.
GPL said that Customers in those areas were continuously estimated primarily because of the persistent rainfall in parts of Region Six which resulted in GPL personnel being unable to gain access to meters to have them read.
However, GPL has put special arrangements in place to meet with these residents and assist them in everyway possible at resolving their billing problems. Residents are asked to take along all their necessary bills and other relevant documents in order to have their billing issues resolved. “GPL sincerely regrets any inconvenience caused by the continuous estimation of accounts in the areas mentioned earlier which was as a result of poor meter accessibility partly due to the inclement weather.
The company would like to reiterate that apart from poor weather conditions, customers must make every effort at providing access to their meters in order for actual readings to be determined,” GPL said.
A release from the Government Information Agency last evening said that Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy, Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee and Minister of Local Government Kellawan Lall met representatives of the Rose Hall estate yesterday and then arranged for workers to meet with management of the GPL Berbice office. The ministers were in Berbice to solicit ideas on reducing the impact of rising food prices.
