Strike over
by Courtney Jones
Fifty-five days of strike action by public servants came to an end yesterday with an official signing of the terms of resumption of work between representatives of five public service unions and government in the Ministry of Health boardroom. There is expected to be a full resumption of work by all public servants on Tuesday June 29, 1999. As the signing ceremony got underway at about 5:40 pm yesterday, Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) President Patrick Yarde, his first Vice-President, Dr Anwar Hussein and members of staff were under virtual siege at the union headquarters at New Garden and Regent Streets as scores of people, including public servants, hurled abuse at Yarde and picketed the building. Somehow, General Secretary of the GPSU, Lawrence Mentis succeeded in leaving the building to attend the signing of the terms of resumption, the only GPSU representative to do so. Up to about 6:45 pm, in spite of a modest police presence outside the union headquarters, people were still pelting the building with bottles and stones and blocking the two entrances. Earlier in the afternoon, soon after the final GPSU general council meeting which voted to end the strike, security guards at the building found seven Molotov cocktails (gasoline-filled bottles) hidden by under a water tank on the southern side of the building. Police and the fire department were promptly called in. A police press release said that the molotov cocktails were in police custody but that no arrests had been made. On Tuesday, after government had agreed to modifications in the terms of the preliminary agreement signed with the unions last Sunday, the General Council of the GPSU met until late into the night discussing the revised document. Thirty-six out of fifty members present at the General Council meeting which had resumed yesterday after adjourning under threats and abuse from persons outside the union hall on Tuesday night, voted in favour of ending the strike. Twelve abstained and two voted against ending the strike. Significantly, the militant Customs contingent, except for a few members, voted to end the strike, perhaps paving the way for the eventual majority vote. The situation in the GPSU hall after the vote by the General Council got tense when angry public servants and some protestors began hurling abuse at Yarde and Mentis in particular. They forced staff including an angry Yarde to virtually lock themselves in some of the offices and the boardroom. Meanwhile, some of their colleagues commenced a picketing exercise outside the New Garden street entrance of the building. Some of the pickets read "GPSU executives should leave", Hussein is a traitor", "Yarde is murdering us", GPSU must account for union dues" and "Help us UNDP". This newspaper understands that some dissatisfied public servants were circulating a document calling for signatures to a no-confidence motion against the union executive which would ultimately lead to its removal. All the while one female public servant stood guard at the Regent Street entrance of the union headquarters with a piece of steel pipe, in order, as she said, to prevent Yarde and Hussein from leaving the building. Speaking to reporters in the boardroom of the union hall yesterday, Hussein stressed that the general council members had had a mandate from the union members in the various branches. "All the workers from Berbice are in favour of ending the strike. The entire Essequibo, Linden and Georgetown with the exception of two branches... are in favour of ending the strike", Hussein said. "We have called the strike off based on the mandate that we were given and the majority of the members have said 'end it' and we cannot keep the entire Public Service Union holding out in a strike when the majority of persons will end up losing pay," he said. Hussein said the government and the unions were working on the composition of the arbitration panel and that if there were any attempts by either side to hinder the arbitration process it would mean that on the government side it would have to keep paying the workers and that on the unions' side, a fine would be instituted. "This strike has been a long strike and where public servants have suffered a lot of difficulties, it will be very hard for them when they resume duty, but what is heartening is that the general membership has agreed for the strike to end and will be able to tackle anything from now on," Hussein said. The terms of resumption were signed by Health and Labour Minister Dr Henry Jeffrey for the government, Mentis for the GPSU, Seelo Baichan (President) for the Federation of Unions of Government Employees (FUGE) and President of the Guyana Manufacturers Association (GMA) Ron Webster for the mediators. Also present were union consultants Asgar Ally and Ramon Gaskin, FUGE representatives, other members of the mediating team, Chairman of the Private Sector Commission, Yesu Persaud, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon and Housing and Water Minister Shaik Baksh and Deputy Chief Labour Officer, Dhanraj Sukdeo. Jeffrey, speaking after the signing contended that no party had benefited from the strike. "The workers have lost pay, the government has lost revenue, the private sector itself has been severely harmed, the reputation of our nation has again been called into question and I am telling you that racial tension [in the country] has not improved," Jeffrey said. He said the unions and the workers had demonstrated that they were willing to struggle if they really wanted something, the government did not lose its nerve, the police rose above themselves in keeping the situation stable and the mediating team "came on board to help the nation when it needed help." Jeffrey briefly went over the twelve clauses in the terms of resumption. In particular he noted that deductions for strike pay will begin from November 1, 1999. "Section six talks about the $302 million that will be paid essentially as a one-off pay, but in three tranches to the public sector workers in a fashion that for the most part was devised by the trade unions," Jeffrey said. He also mentioned the Commission of Enquiry and the proposed terms of reference for the tribunal. "I think that this is a good document for the people involved and we should use this occasion to move forward," Jeffrey said. GPSU General Secretary Mentis described the negotiations as "hard". "We were adamant in ensuring that the package would be in the interest of the workers and we are happy that it has come to this situation," he said. Mentis, due to relinquish his post within weeks, joined with Minister Jeffrey in calling on both sides to respect the terms of resumption and all that these stood for. FUGE President Baichan said the final document had been agreed to by all parties in spite of "doubts, suspicions and reservations by everyone." "But with the strength of the workers we were able to achieve our goal," the FUGE President said, adding that much credit had been due to the mediating team for its efforts that eventually saw an end to the strike. He described as a very significant victory the fact that the unions eventually got the government after four years to agree to arbitration. "FUGE will respect and adhere to each clause of the agreement and we hope that government will adhere to the clauses set out in the terms of resumption," he added. And according to the police press release, a small group of striking public servants demonstrated outside the General Post Office and John Fernandes building presumably before the announcement of the calling off of the strike. It also said police were investigating an alleged assault outside GPSU headquarters involving a man and a woman yesterday. Meanwhile when Stabroek News left GPSU headquarters at 7.00pm yesterday, former Peoples National Congress General Secretary Aubrey Norton was attempting to calm a crowd of angry persons who were still hurling abuse at Yarde and Hussein and GPSU staff locked in the building. Stabroek News saw persons afterwards, at about 7:00pm, hurling chairs from the building onto the road, and some reports indicated that they were also hurling the chairs into nearby trenches.
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