Dear Editor,
By now the workers of the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown should realize that they are being dreadfully failed by the two unions that represent them, and they need to become a union themselves.
The failure to remit the National Insurance Scheme contributions — which is not Council’s money, but rather deductions made from employees — is just simply criminal, yet the two unions are hardly lifting a straw to have that situation rectified.
It is most unkind of the municipality to deny their workers the opportunity to claim refunds for their health-related expenses. The Council should be taken to court not just by the administration of the NIS, but the union should take them as well, on behalf of the workers. This is so unlawful.
And the brutality to the workers does not stop there: the workers can no longer access loans from their credit unions, as those deductions have not been handed over by the Council either. They have no recreational facilities, their working environment in those dilapidated buildings is extremely poor, except for the big shots in their plush offices.
Workers who retire have to wait for months and years to receive their gratuity payments. Former workers have to wait months at a time for their meagre pensions, after serving the Council in most instances for more than thirty years. Day care centres are being shuttered, so the children of workers can no longer be accommodated there. Workers at the Abattoir are subjected to the most unhygienic conditions, where the ‘Hot Pit’ that was used in the slaughter of pigs is no longer functional.
It is time for the Council’s workers to stand up and demand better working conditions, as it is clear that the unions will not do it for them.
Mr Minister, when will you straighten out those delinquents at City Hall?
Sincerely,
Amber Valentine
