‘People should not treat us anyhow’

“Security guards work under terrible conditions and not just where you work, but also there is sometimes no paid leave… If you call in sick you are not paid. I want to see guards being treated like human beings. We are human beings and we must be treated the same way they treat a doctor or a teacher.”

The words of Wintress White, a woman who for years has fought for the rights of downtrodden women and particularly those who have been asking for a living wage. The tables were turned on the Red Thread activist recently. She took a job as a security guard in February this year, in an effort to make ends meet. However, last month, she said, after months of working under horrible conditions, she was forced to quit the job. She has every intention of fighting through the Labour Department of the Ministry of Social Protection for money she believes is owed to her, but she also wanted to highlight the conditions under which security guards in Guyana work.

“When I approached the Radar Security and Supply Services I let them know that I am an activist with Red Thread and I am the one who asked for the 12-hour shift, seven in the evening to seven in the morning,” she told me during a conversation.

“The first place I worked was the Colgrain House and the person in charge, he never speak to the guards like if they are human beings and I did stand up to him. Then I was removed and went to the Sports Hall,” she continued.

At the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, White said, the Ministry of Social Cohesion’s ‘checker’ took advantage of guards and belittled them.

“It was so bad, the way he address you that he had me crying. Yes, me Wintress White, who represents women, he had me crying. Everything was a problem for him, and he complained all the time. When I report it to the supervisor, you know what he told me, ‘the man must be like you.’ That is what I had to put up,” White said.

“I am a very respectful person, but I also want people to respect me when they are talking to me, I don’t want people talking to me anyhow and once I had an exchange of words with him.

“He is talking to me anyhow and the guard hut where we worked had no window, no light and it was mosquito infested. The gate had no padlock and so people could walk in and out as they liked. One time a man stood in front and was masturbating! Those are the conditions under which people work,” she shared.

“And that is the Sports Hall, a government location and nobody don’t care about the conditions under which the security guards work. And I was working 12 hours, seven days a week,” she further said.

I asked her if she did not know about the five-day work week. She said while she knew, the more days she worked the more money she received, and she needed the money.

“All they give us to work, is a whistle. Tell me: What that can do to protect me? And so, at a certain time I would lock myself in the building for security purpose because nobody is going to come and do me anything while I guarding the Sports Hall, my life is important,” she continued.

“One time the ministry checker saw me coming out of the building and he accused me of sleeping but it was nothing of the sort and he was very disrespectful,” she said.

For months the situation continued, even as she attempted to speak for her rights whenever the opportunity presented itself. Once, the security guards at the location were accused of breaking the lock to a cupboard and this resulted in them being told that they had no access to the toilet facilities.

“I could not work with this because when I want to relieve myself I cannot do so in the open in the yard and so at around 11pm I would tell the other guard that I am going home to use the toilet and I did not go back to work because it made no sense,” she said.

Because of her actions, White was called into a meeting and she claimed that when she approached an official, she was insulted in front of another person.

“If you hear how he speak to me and I am trying to him that I have to use the toilet, but he was not listening. And he told me that I will not be working. I was surprised because I knew of persons who fought on the job and did not even get suspend.”

She said because of what she was told, she left the job but now she will be fighting for owed wages

“One time I fell on the job and knock out a few of my teeth and the company did nothing to help me. You know, I have to ask myself where is the good life this government promised? It is not reaching the people at the bottom. Where is the good life when guards are working under [these] conditions; it is raining, and you have no proper shelter?

“Most of these guard services don’t treat their workers right but they are still getting government contracts. Now I have firsthand information about how guards are treated and I am glad because you never really understand it when someone tell you but when you have to live it yourself then it really registered with you,” the activist said.

“And the sexual harassment female guards have to endure it is not easy. It is time that more be done for security guards. We are citizens and we are working hard just like everyone else and people should not treat us anyhow,” the sister maintained.

And she is right. It is time for security companies to take more interest in the welfare of their workers. It is also time for them not to just take it out but to remit the money to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and also their taxes. There are countless stories of workers going to NIS only to find that the security company while deducting the money as is required does not pay it into the scheme.

And it is also important for government ministries to investigate the guard services they contract to protect their buildings. Ensure that the company treats its workers right and also that there are proper facilities at the locations to accommodate security guards.