The lead story of the November 14, Stabroek News which addressed another imposed pay increase to public servants at its ultimate paragraph saliently said “[w]hile public servants have gotten increases since 2015, sugar workers have had their wages frozen and 7,000 have lost their jobs”. The latest announcement by the caretaker Granger Administration represents yet another step and epitomizes the perpetuation of the naked and clear discrimination meted out to the thousands of the nation’s sugar workers.
Several rationales have been expressed for the continuing discrimination against not only the sugar workers and their families but also affecting their villages, and those economically dependent on sugar workers consumption. That notwithstanding, it appears, the Administration is unfazed and simply unconcerned about this section of the Guyanese people. This latest pay rise announcement follows not too long after thousands of sugar workers petitioned President Granger for an increase which the Stabroek News reminds, has been withheld since 2015 when the Coalition took office. It appears that petition and the expressions of the workers have no bearing on the President and his ministerial cadre.
The discriminatory approach, in our view, is clearly expressed by the Stabroek News which said “…it had been expected that the caretaker government would announce a significant hike to solidify support from what is seen as key part of its constituency”. The newspaper, which we also know is a victim of Governmental discrimination, is only repeating what is generally known and that is the Granger bunch is only concerned with only a section of the working people. Clearly, the sugar workers and the industry are not in the Government’s good graces which explains its lackadaisical attitude and approach to them. This is a marked departure from past experiences and practices.
Governments, as far as we know, are elected to govern fair and treat all citizens equally. These important tenets are reiterated in our Constitution yet the caretakers-of-today are clear violators. As we have pointed out before, even PNC founder and former President Forbes Burnham never was so crude and crass and he ensured workers were generally treated equally. President Granger who idolizes his party’s founder, should well be guided by such an example we say that all workers should be treated fairly and equitably.
