The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) recognizes and welcomes the announcement by His Excellency President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali for duty and tax assessments to be computed based on pre-pandemic shipping charges in an effort reduce the cost-of-living. The Federation is very much aware that the cost of many important and essential commodities has risen markedly over the past few months. We recognize that, to some extent, those increases are linked to events outside of Guyana, more particularly regarding freight costs. At the same time, it is not lost on us that some businesses have sort to profiteer from the situation. Such unscrupulousness and we daresay fleecing of our hard-working and unwitting Guyanese should not be countenanced more so given the challenges of our contemporary times.
We recognize that the through the decision of the Government, nearly $5B in revenues will be foregone. Expectedly such savings are intended to and should benefit the Guyanese people who certainly require the reliefs granted by the Administration. Indeed, we expect within the coming days and weeks to see some of the mounting prices beginning their decline and workers wages/salaries going a bit further. Undoubtedly, such expectations we do not believe are far-fetched nor outlandish.
The Federation also looks in the coming weeks to a continued monitoring of the situation to ensure that workers and all Guyanese are benefitting from the Government’s initiatives. The FITUG believes too that some examination of the fuel prices should be examined to further reduce the cost-of-living. We urge too that other, more direct measures be considered in an effort to offering further reliefs to our beleaguered working people and their families. We recognize the President’s recent announcement of pay rises to all public employees and to this end we urge that positive consideration be given to the long outstanding increase in the national minimum wage. We believe it will go a long way to assist our hard-pressed workers.
