The whole idea behind the unionization of vendors says Eon Andrews, the President of the Guyana Market Vendors Union (GMVU) is to seek to redress the “balance of respect” between the municipality and the people who ply their trade in and around the municipal markets.
It is, Andrews says “only fair,” his argument being that vending fees are the second largest contributor to City Hall’s coffers, behind rates and taxes. He should know. He was once a Councilor and, he says, the reliability of the revenue that derives from vending is far greater than that which comes from rates and taxes “since the municipality has not been very good at collecting rates and taxes.”
What Andrews says the Union wants most is to have the vendors’ representatives sit across the table from the officials of the municipality “to discuss an arrangement that will bring about mutual respect between the two parties.” He says that it is a matter of a lack of respect for the vendors and for their right to work and to earn. “Our members want to respect the law. They also want a fair deal that brings them a fair living and the assurance that the municipality will also respect the law.”
