Large percentage of working class without union representation

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A large bracket of the country’s working class population is not represented by a trade union.

The revelation comes as trade unions celebrate 100 years of trade unionism in Guyana.

President of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG), Carvil Duncan lamented that many workers, particularly those in the private sector, are unrepresented.

“Why is the security service not organised? Why [are] the private education institutions not organised?” he questioned during a ceremony at Grand Coastal Hotel on Wednesday.

“We have all these calling centres which have thousands of persons and they are still not organised. We have a lot of work to do,” Duncan posited.

FITUG’s President Carvil Duncan

Even as the FITUG Head lamented over the number of un-unionised workers, he called on trade unions to evolve from the traditional methods of representation.

“We are not living in a world of our own in Guyana. Globalisation came…and it left with us a technologically-developed workforce. What are we doing about that?”

“Throughout the Caribbean, unions have been losing members primarily because they have not been focusing in the right direction. If after 100 years, we should now consider focusing in another direction,” the longstanding trade unionist asserted.

 

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