Warning that social distancing measures to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) could create hardships for public transport operators, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) has called for measures to be put in place in order to assist them and other affected workers.
Restrictions on the number of passengers which motor vehicles, vessels or aircraft are licensed to carry and the requirement that operators and passengers have personal protective equipment were announced on Friday evening by government. Several proposals in this regards had been previously announced by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, which prompted FITUG’s call as it said that additional measures must be put in place to counter the hardships that can be created for workers that are directly affected.
One of the first things that was pointed out by the umbrella labour body was the proposal made by the ministry to temporarily reduce the passenger capacity of taxis, buses and speedboats in order to provide adequate space for social distancing to occur. This has been formalised to restrict the number of passengers to half the number which the vehicle, vessel or aircraft is licensed to carry at any one time.
