Unpaid workers picket Port Mourant NDC

Workers attached to the Johns/Port Mourant Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) staged a picketing exercise outside the NDC office on Tuesday, demanding the removal of the overseer, as they complained that their September salaries remain unpaid and that late payments have become a recurring problem.

The workers, drawn from the Community Infrastructure Improvement Project (CIIP), the Government Pathway programme and the NDC’s garbage-collection operations, said delays in receiving their salaries have persisted for months.

Government Pathway worker Denny Dwarker said he repeatedly sought answers about his outstanding salary but was unable to get a satisfactory response. “Me need to get me money. Me want me money; me work hard for me money,” Dwarker said.

CIIP worker Latchman Shivkumar said workers have on occasions had to wait well into the following month to be paid and are sometimes told, when they enquire, that the relevant cheque has not been signed.

Meanwhile, garbage collector Chandrapaul Seecharran, who has worked with the NDC for three years, said workers previously received their salaries during the first part of the following month, but more recently have had to wait until around the third week.

He was still awaiting his September salary on Tuesday.

For 65-year-old garbage collector Parsram Lalbeharry, receiving his salary on time is particularly important because household expenses do not wait. “Light bill got to pay. Got to pay phone bill; got to pay water bill,” he said.

Another CIIP worker, Bheem Singh, 56, said the delays have persisted for months. “When you supposed to get paid today, you get until next week, sometime then two weeks or three weeks after,” Singh said.

Surijdeo Surijpaul, another CIIP worker, was also among those protesting over the salary issue. The workers said the recurring delays have caused them to lose confidence in the overseer and prompted Tuesday’s demand for her removal.

This newspaper was told that the NDC Overseer proceeded on leave on August 25, while a cheque covering payments to the workers was signed on August 27.

For the payment in question, the cheque covering the workers’ salaries was made payable to the overseer, who was required to cash it before the individual workers could be paid. The overseer returned from leave on September 11, but the workers, however, were not paid until September 21.

The workers are now awaiting their September salaries. Efforts by Guyana Times to contact the overseer for a response to the workers’ claims and the issues raised were futile.