This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GEORGETOWN 000158 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12598: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB PGOV GY
SUBJECT: LABOR STRUGGLES TO UNIFY AS GOG SEIZES INITIATIVE 
 
 
¶1. SUMMARY: A number of simmering labor issues have emerged 
in the run-up to the elections. The Guyana Public Service 
Union (GPSU) is in an ongoing struggle for government salary 
arbitration with unclear ends and limited impact to date. 
The Guyana Trade Union Congress (GTUC) is contesting a 
proposal to amend the Trade Union Recognition Act that would 
effectively remove it from the Trade Union Recognition and 
Certification Board. Meanwhile, the Guyana Teachers Union 
(GTU) staged a one-day sickout February 1 to protest for a 
wage increase. A climate of divisive racial politics and 
historical suspicion of organized labor's motives undermine 
the potential for reconciliation in the near-term. END 
SUMMARY. 
 
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REVIEW OF RECENT ACTIVITY 
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¶2. The new year has seen several actions on the part of 
Guyana's labor unions.  On January 19 parliament tabled a 
bill to amend the Trade Union Recognition Act of 1997 that 
proposes to replace the current law's requirement to consult 
with the most representative trade union association (i.e. 
the GTUC) in making appointments to the Trade Union 
Recognition and Certification Board with a requirement to 
consult the 5 largest unions. This has encountered strong 
opposition from the umbrella GTUC, which claims the bill is 
an attempt to pack the board with representatives more loyal 
to the government. Several unions, including the GPSU, the 
GTU, and the Commercial and Clerical Workers Union, picketed 
outside parliament on the day of the bill's first reading 
January 19. 
 
¶3. On February 1, the Guyana Teachers Union staged a "stress 
day" to protest the government's handling of wage 
negotiations.  Participation among teachers in urban 
Georgetown and New Amsterdam was reportedly widespread, 
although teachers in rural schools did not appear to 
actively participate. 
 
¶4. On February 8, the GPSU staged a lunchtime march through 
downtown Georgetown to call for salary arbitration and 
protest the appointment of contract workers in the civil 
service. Turnout was estimated at around two hundred, well 
below expectations. Several membership groupings failed to 
appear, including employees of the University of Guyana. 
Opposition MP Stanley Ming and third party candidate Peter 
Ramsaroop marched alongside GPSU president Patrick Yarde. 
 
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THE ISSUES 
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¶5. According to Yarde, the PSU's major grievance is the 
GOG's failure to negotiate civil service salaries or to pass 
the issue to arbitration. Parliament approved a 7% wage 
increase for the public sector in 2005, which the GPSU 
interprets as a unilateral move to undermine its efforts to 
extract better conditions. The Permanent Secretary of the 
Public Service Ministry, Nanda Gopaul, counters that the 
issue is simply one of numbers. In addition to straining 
Guyana's budget in the face of restraints on civil service 
salaries required by international funding institutions, 
raising public sector salaries any higher risks outpacing 
wage growth in the private sector. Gopaul also points to 
Guyana's last experience with arbitration, the Armstrong 
Arbitration Tribunal of 1999-2000, which resulted in awards 
that exceeded the amount budgeted by the Ministry of 
Finance. Gopaul also argues that the GOG does not have the 
authority to negotiate without parliamentary approval, and 
the PSU has rejected efforts to establish an independent 
commission to advise parliament on the matter. 
 
¶6. As far as the Trade Union Recognition Bill is concerned, 
GTUC President Andrew Garnett argues that amending the Trade 
Union Recognition Act to include the PNC-aligned GPSU, GTU 
and the Guyana Labor Union (GLU), which is presided over by 
opposition leader Robert Corbin, among the five recognized 
unions is a deceptively inclusive gesture on the part of the 
GOG. Each of these unions refuses to engage in any 
meaningful negotiations with the government, leaving the 
remaining two unions on the amended board, the Guyana 
Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) and the National 
Association of Clerical, Commercial and Industrial Employees 
(NAACIE) as the only effective representatives of labor. The 
latter two unions are closely aligned with the ruling PPP/C; 
the president of GAWU, Komal Chand, is a member of the PPP 
Executive Committee. Garnett argues that the Labor 
Ministry's provision of the bill to the GTUC just two days 
before it was tabled in parliament indicates the government 
is negotiating in bad faith. 
 
¶7. The GOG counters that the GTUC membership is largely made 
up of "paper unions" that do not have a broad-based 
constituency. As a result, it views the amendment as an 
effort to specify vague language in the current bill that 
refers to consultation with the most representative union. 
Chief Labor Officer Mohammed Akeel also argues that a 1988 
constitutional amendment, passed after a GTUC-negotiated 
wage settlement that exceeded the government's ability to 
pay, eliminated the legal obligation to consult with the 
TUC. Instead, the government will continue to negotiate 
through a tripartite commission of labor, industry, and 
government representatives. 
 
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THE POLITICAL CONTEXT 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. Underlying these issues is a political context of 
suspicion and division within the labor movement in Guyana, 
much of it deeply personal. The GOG roundly condemns the 
GPSU actions as politically motivated. Gopaul provided 
EconOff a briefing paper ostensibly based on information 
received from dissident members of the GPSU that alleges 
that union is planning to disrupt the country with the 
support of "the Buxton resistance group" in the coming 
months. The statement also alleges that the U.S. diaspora is 
financing arrangements in the hopes that the GPSU can act 
along the lines of the political strikes of the 1960's. 
While the credibility of such claims is uncertain, this 
sentiment is indicative of the long history of suspicion 
that clouds labor unions in Guyana. Gopaul further insists 
that the GPSU missed a "golden opportunity" for compromise 
18 months ago, when Yarde apparently undermined negotiations 
with the Office of the President by blasting President 
Jagdeo on an a television talk show. 
 
¶9. For his part, Yarde accuses the GOG of heavy-handedness 
in its handling of the union's demonstrations to date. Yarde 
labels the heavy police presence along the GPSU's February 8 
march route as a "blatant act of intimidation" and blames it 
for the low turnout. Ramsaroop has also condemned the police 
presence as adding to tensions.  Yarde also insists that he 
received word from private sector sources that President 
Jagdeo has said he would just as soon eliminate the GPSU if 
he could find a way to do so. 
 
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WHAT COMES NEXT? 
------------------------------ 
 
¶10. The GPSU has announced a second lunchtime march planned 
for the same route on February 15. Yarde has stated his 
commitment to non-violent industrial action, and the 
prospects of major civil disruption seem unlikely for 
several reasons. First, the low turnout at the previous 
march, be it due to intimidation or a lack of coordination 
within the public service union, suggests the mandate for 
major industrial action on the part of the PSU's membership 
is weak. Second, the wage increase seems to have undercut 
the union's efforts to mobilize its sagging membership. 
Finally, Yarde observed that resource constraints may limit 
the GPSU's ability to sustain action along the lines of the 
57-day strike in 1999, after which the union lost its 
ability to automatically collect membership dues as an 
agency shop. Yarde is also working to improve relations with 
the GTUC. Meanwhile, the GTU reportedly had a productive 
meeting with Chief Cabinet Secretary Roger Luncheon on 
February 13 and agreed to meet again to discuss maters such 
as paid leave, class size, and allowances. 
 
¶11. Garnett informed EconOff on February 14 that Chief 
Cabinet Secretary Roger Luncheon agreed to delay the second 
reading of the Trade Union Recognition Amendment Bill, 
originally scheduled for February 16. Later this month 
Luncheon is expected to provide the GTUC with a list of 
unspecified conditions under which the GOG would withdraw 
the bill. Privately, both Gopaul of the Public Service 
Ministry and the GTUC's Garnett are amenable to working with 
each other. Gopaul confided to EconOff that President Jagdeo 
has expressed a willingness to withdraw support for the 
amended Trade Union Recognition Act if the unions would be 
willing to come together to build consensus. Garnett 
expressed a strong desire to keep the GTUC free of 
association with any political party. 
 
BULLEN