Dear Editor,
The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) has seen the letter to the editor on the National Minimum Wage Order by Mohammed Akeel, former chief labour officer, as well as the joint statement in response to it from President of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) Norris Witter and General Secretary of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) Kenneth Joseph, who are both members of the Tripartite Board.
The GPSU would like to take this opportunity to reiterate its firm position in support of the introduction of the National Minimum Wage and 40-hour working week as stipulated in the order issued by Minister of Labour Dr Nanda Gopaul.
As previously stated, this action is considered by the union as commendable and undoubtedly a step in the right direction to bring some economic relief to the workers who would benefit from this development. They are viewed by the union as implicitly being exploited.
I wish to state that Mr Akeel’s expressions are of no surprise to the GPSU, since it is nationally known that we rejected his involvement in the 1999 strike which led to the formation of mediation team of the Guyana Council of Churches, the Guyana Bar Association and others, to bring back professionalism in this industrial relations matter which resulted in its satisfactory conclusion.
In concluding we wish to say that Mr Akeel’s letter lacks credibility, subjectivity and is biased in favour of business interests. His motives continue to be anti-working class.
Yours faithfully,
Patrick Yarde
President GPSU
