Government considering GTUC request for copy of Beal deal
The government is to consider providing the umbrella body of the trade union movement with a copy of the agreement it signed with Beal Aerospace Technologies Ltd last week. General Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), Lincoln Lewis, told Stabroek News that the undertaking was given by the government to favourably consider providing the GTUC with a copy of the agreement when a seven-member delegation met President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday. He said that the GTUC delegation left the meeting with the hope that its request for the document would be favourably considered and expected to receive it shortly. Lewis said that the GTUC informed the government that it was prepared to re-engage in dialogue 72 hours after the agreement was received. He told Stabroek News that the delegation which was led by GTUC President, Norris Witter, expressed dissatisfaction that the government had signed the agreement given the public utterances on the content of the agreement. "While it may seem a fait accompli, the GTUC does not see it as such since it wants to see at the end of the day a consensual position which is representative of the Guyanese view." Lewis said too that the GTUC told the government team, which included Prime Minister Sam Hinds, and chief negotiator, Commissioner General of the Revenue Authority, Edgar Heyligar, that it observed that it was the Prime Minister who had refuted PNC leader Desmond Hoyte's statement, by pointing out that he had the wrong document. "It is the view of the TUC that if it is going to make a constructive contribution in helping the forging of a consensual position it needed to have a copy of the document agreed to by the two parties." GTUC executive member, Andrew Garnett, who was present at the meeting explained that the GTUC could not be in favour of a deal if it included the suspension of the Factories Act in the area Beal controlled. The government has since explained that the Factories Act will be applicable. Garnett said the GTUC was willing to suspend judgement on the deal until it was able to study the actual agreement. The other GTUC members at the meeting were vice-presidents Carvil Duncan and Vera Naughton, and executive members, Lance Baptiste and Maureen Walcott-Fortune. In announcing the signing of the agreement for Beal to construct a US$100 million rocket launch site, the government said that it would sell some 25,010 acres to Beal at US$3 an acre and accept US$1 an acre per annum as easement fees for a further 76,000 acres. The firm will also enjoy a 99-year tax holiday. Guyana will be paid a fee per launch on a graduated scale.
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