| As the voices of staff and students of the University of Guyana (UG) joined as one during a massive marchStephen De Abreuthrough Georgetown yesterday, the voices of a small but important section of the University’s service providers remain silent.These voices are those of the bus drivers and taxi drivers who transport students to and from the university. And as strikes continue on the UG main campus the pressure mounts for these workers.When the university is in full swing these drivers provide their services throughout the day, beginning early in the morning and ending late into the night when the last of the classes conclude.UG’s new semester has been postponed for just over three weeks yet these drivers faithfully turn out each day; they sit in their boiling hot buses and cars, wiping sweat off their faces as they wait for passengers who slowly trickle in for a drop.“The problem is that we are working and we not getting a normal work day,” bus driver Deo Persaud told Kaieteur News. He said that when the University is open they can make about five to eight trips. Now, he said,NFL Jerseys China Online, they are only making half of this figure.He said the drivers now depend on passengers picked up along the route or those from areas surrounding the University,Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping, because it is oftentimes difficult to find an entire load.“We’re dependent on the University…Without the students we just don’t get a full day of work,http://www.airmaxfantasy.us.com/574-New-Balance/,” he admitted.Another bus driver said that there are about 60 to 70 buses plying the route but, since the strike commenced,Mohan Ramtahalmany of these drivers have not turned out to work.“Sometimes some working sometimes is just a set of us. Is not all the buses working; but if all the buses been working we woulda mek even (fewer) trips,” he noted. He continued, “When work deh, we work, when work ain’t deh you got to try and catch up and what little you make got to do.”He said he worked the entire of last week because he had a driver he needed to pay,Throwback Jerseys, regardless of if work is available or not. He said after his payments, he is only left with a pittance to take home.“What li’l bit we get we got to be content with it; we can’t do anything else,” he said.Though he noted that the situation is not a new one since UG is often closed for breaks, he admitted that it is a difficult one because UG had been closed since the Christmas holidays. He said that this extended break is similar to the so-called ‘summer/break which lasts from June to late August.He explained that the situation is difficult from both sides of the route – in Georgetown and on the campus. “Sometimes if we go down at 9 [am] you don’t get a load until about 1 [pm] and when you run down there is a whole set of buses already lined up there waiting to do the same thing you need to do,Cheap Jerseys Free,” he pointed out.The buses would usually head home later when UG was opened. However, with the recent strikes, these hours have been cut and the buses are now heading home in the early afternoon, he added.“We coming out later and going home earlier,” the driver lamented.Clifford DodsonDifficult timesTaxi drivers for short drops to the University’s campus also say they are affected by the ongoing strikes. They maintain that there needs to be a resumption of classes.Driver, Mohan Ramtahal, said that his work is so drastically lessened that he has resorted to “running the road” to supplement his income. “We’re not getting the work that we used to; I does got to leave and go to make an ends at other places, because this amount of work I’m getting don’t pay,” he explained.He added that he turned out yesterday in hope that the strike action would have ceased. However, he said, his hopes were dashed. The strikes seemed to intensify, he added.Stephen de Abreu, another of the short-drop drivers, said there are about nine cars working the route but only about three of these drivers turn out to work since the strikes commenced. He too said he begins his days early and ends them earlier each day.Clifford Dodson said that he had been working the route for over six years. His post affords him the opportunity to hear about a number of strikes and issues arising at the University. He also said his job allowed him to constantly hear the complaints of students as they make their way into the University.“I don’t recall ever carrying in students and they didn’t complain; if is not for the library, it’s for the lecturers, for the facilities, something. It’s a very unhappy situation,” he said.Business is slow for buses travelling to and from the University of Guyana as strike actions continue over wages.This “unhappy situation” had been particularly difficult on those taxi drivers who wait each day on UG road for passengers, he said.“Things have been very slow because of the strike and the protests; it’s very difficult…if you are accustomed to doing a certain amount of work, you’re now getting a quarter of that,” he pointed out. Wilson said he is a pensioner and receives an alternative source of income, so the strikes were not as tough on him as they were on other drivers. However, he nonetheless said the work available to the drivers was noticeably lower.Despite the serious effects of the industrial actions on the drivers,Deion Sanders Falcons Jersey, Wilson expressed solidarity with the staff and said that their movement was a necessary one.“I am of the view that in a government institution workers should never, ever have to protest for benefits; benefits should be thrust upon them. This is madness going on here,” he said. “A government that opposes the University deposes itself; this is wrong,” he added.When asked whether the drivers had conferred amongst themselves on a plan of action, the drivers indicated that there is not much that can be done. “We really can’t say nothing so we not complaining. We just got to feel the squeeze,” De Abreu said.Since January 26, tensions have been high at the University when the staff began industrial action following a collapse of wage negotiations between the main unions and the UG administration. The University had been scheduled to reopen since that date. |
