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A distortion of my views

May 24, 2008 Letters

Dear Editor,
Ms. Samantha Ali’s reference in her letter of 20/5/2008 titled “Ms Burton’s works prove that she is a competent trade unionist” accused me of being “dishonest and unfair”, but her accusation aptly described her motive.
I never said Ms. Gillian Burton, President of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a “poor and incompetent leader”. Neither did I suggest “Ms. Coretta McDonald has a better record of speaking about the plight of workers than Ms. Burton”.
There is a pattern emerging here with Ms. Ali on behalf of Ms. Burton. Initially Ms. Ali accused the TUC leadership of sexism and stifling the potential of Ms. Burton. The focus has now shifted to ladies’ rivalry where Ms. Burton is the true (competent) trade unionist and Ms. McDonald the false (incompetent) trade unionist. I refuse to descend to this new low by facilitating this unsubstantiated quality of discourse. Ms. Burton should take the highroad by addressing the workers’ concerns.
There was no referencing in my letter to the management of Ms. Mc Donald’s union, the Guyana Teachers Union. I made reference to the TUC Rally speeches. However, if Ms. Ali prefers this diversion I suggest by the same token she writes on the negotiated wages anomaly of Ms. Burton’s union, PTWU, where some postal workers’ wages are less than the minimum wage and GT&T workers earn less than Digicel.
This year’s National Budget continues to impact negatively on workers and Ms. Burton has not marched against the draconian fiscal measures. Ms. Burton marched against President Jagdeo’s four-month closure of Mr. Sharma’s CNS Six.
This brings me full circle to once again ask Ms. Burton if she identifies with workers’ anger and what she plans to do about the problems confronting us. Workers want a response be it by Ms. Burton or the capable Ms. Ali.
Martin Roberts

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