Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) Chairman David Armogan has expressed concern over the untimely payment of employees by security companies.
Armogan mentioned that employees of a security company providing services for Government buildings were not paid for their services. This particular company, he says, is the largest security service provider in Region Six as well as Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice).
David Armogan
The company provides security services for Government facilities including schools, health centers and hospitals.
However, he noted that, unfortunately, many of his guards had gone months without receiving their wages.
In fact, according to the Regional Chairman, many do not get overtime for the long hours they work.
“Sometimes two to three months after people don’t get paid for work done, these people work 12-hour shifts and work very hard. Some of them work from 6 pm to 6 am. To be doing that for two or three months without being paid means that your utilities will be disconnected, ”said the Chairman.
Scores of babysitters involved in this particular service have reported to
“GWI doesn’t wait until you’re paid to give you your water supply. GPL is not waiting on you to give you electricity. So what you also find is that there are all these poor people who do this kind of work; they are disconnected and also have to reconnect. So it’s an extra hardship on these people, ”said Armogan.
The Regional Chairman noted that the Government was in the process of accepting proposals for security companies to take up the post. However, there is no guarantee that no firm will win the tender.
“These security companies; both current participants and potential attendees, they would have to understand that people will have to be paid on time. So, they must have some sort of fund. You shouldn’t be coming in broken and then hoping when the Government would pay you [pay] the employees. They should have a money-laying month so that if the Government pays you a week late, you would still have money in the system, ”he said.
Many of the employees involved in the said security company and even others claim that the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) contributions were deducted from their wages, but were not paid to the NIS .
“All of those things are under consideration at the moment. The Ministry of Labor ended by the last Government has now been restored under this new Government, because we recognize the importance of labor to this economy and the protection of workers’ rights in this country . That is why this Government has made that decision to ensure that the Ministry of Labor has been placed there to ensure that workers’ rights are protected at all levels, ”the Chairman noted. (G4)
