Veteran trade unionists responsible for rift - Burton

Veteran trade unionists responsible for rift – Burton

May 06, 2009 News

It is the veteran trade unionists who are responsible for the rift among trade unions in Guyana.
This is according to President of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), Gillian Burton, who said that the workers were resolute in a unified trade union movement in Guyana, but were blinded by the farce being propelled by the senior trade unionists who have their own agendas.
She noted that there are senior members of unions of both umbrella bodies, namely the GTUC and the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG), who have now become professional trade unionists and earn no income other than the union dues, hence the need to hold on to their jobs.
According to Burton, these individuals have their own ego and petty issues with each other and it was hurting worker representation in the country.
She said that some were even politically directed.
According to Burton it is incumbent on the young workers to educate themselves as to the reality of the current senior functionaries and come election vote accordingly so that workers could be properly represented in this country.
She urged that they should edify themselves and not be manipulated by the veteran unionists that are seeking to promote their own agendas.
Recently, when asked by a media operative if it is that FITUG was so concerned about unity among trade unions why not compromise and rally with the GTUC on May Day, Carvil Duncan of FITUG retorted, “How could they compromise when the GTUC does not even recognize the legitimacy of the body?”
He further reminded that during last year’s Labour Day activities when Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who was performing the duties of President, visited the GTUC rally after FITUG’s, he was booed out of the rally. “Are we to subject ourselves to that?”
He noted that the GTUC was not interested in unity and would not allow FITUG to have a presentation at its rally.
Duncan further noted that in order for there to be unity at the level of union, the leadership of the GTUC needs to be changed.
This was the comment to which Burton was responding.
The CCWU had recently said that the ongoing rift is seriously undermining the solidarity of workers, since the union feels that the continuing divide provides employers with more opportunities to exploit workers.
Over recent years there have been separate May Day rallies following a split within the trade union movement. This saw several unions, including Guyana’s largest labour union – the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU) – breaking away to form the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG).
“A united trade union rally on May Day would be a good way to go, but the CCWU recognises that at this time again it is impossible, having spoken with officials of FITUG and the GTUC recently,” the CCWU said in a statement.
It was further stated that the CCWU associates with both FITUG and GTUC, and the executive called for the CCWU to demonstrate its disgust with both bodies over the continuing rift.
“We feel that no strong enough effort is being made to seal the rift,” CCWU General Secretary Grantley Culbard told this newspaper in an invited comment, yesterday.
Mediation efforts by two distinguished union leaders in the Caribbean – Sir Roy Trotman, General Secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union; and George DePeana, former General Secretary of the Caribbean Congress of Labour and also a former General Secretary of the CCWU – have failed.
The CCWU believes that a way must be found to mend the divide in the interest of the workers.
The union is calling for FITUG and GTUC to “talk some sense” and not be rigid about certain positions.
“The GTUC appears not to be interested in any unification, hence not enough effort is being made on their part,” Culbard said, while urging that compromise be found to stop what is going on, to the detriment of workers’ solidarity.
Although the CCWU will not be participating in any of the May Day rallies, the union indicated that it will participate in other Labour Week activities and expressed the hope that the same position does not exist next year.

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Veteran trade unionists responsible for rift – Burton

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