Workers attached to the Rose Hall Mayor and Town Council on Thursday downed tools demanding minimum wage along with payments owed to them for the first seven months of the year.
Over 30 workers participated in the strike, which began on Thursday morning.
However, Stabroek News was told yesterday that the workers’ union representative is expected to meet with the council on Monday to discuss possible solutions to the payment issues.
Winston Smith, who is in charge of the Constabulary Department, yesterday explained that they are also demanding minimum wage since they are earning below the minimum wage.
Additionally, Smith explained that the workers are owed $19,000 per month back payment from January to July. He claimed, “The council is not making provisions to generate money to pay the staff. We had made a recommendation to have persons and vendors pay to use the parking lot but they seem not to want to do that.”
Furthermore, Smith told reporters yesterday that if the union is not able to hold the council accountable, then workers will be withholding their contributions. He said, “The union representative was there on Wednesday and he told us to go on strike from 6 on Thursday because the council failed to reach our demands”. He added, “We wanted to strike two weeks ago but the union negotiated with them and said to pay $10,000 and then they told the council that after that they can sit with us to decide when they will pay the retroactive.”
According to Smith, the mayor was expected to meet with workers yesterday but cancelled at the last minute after which the meeting was put to Monday.
Stabroek News attempted to contact the Mayor yesterday but efforts proved futile. However, a source at the council explained that they cannot afford to pay minimum wage at this time. “Either the number of staff would have to be reduced or rates increased,” the source noted.
Meanwhile, vendors of the Rose Hall Town Market also shared their frustration as they were unable to ply their trade during the strike since the gates to market were not opened.
The workers yesterday said that they will continue to strike unless an agreement is met on Monday.
