FITUG is driven by a conspiratorial concept of numbers

Nov 20, 2015 Letters

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Dear Editor,
FITUG was re-established out of the instigation of and direction from the PPP to further and gave support to this party’s policy of domination and anti-working class agenda. Their position that FITUG is the most representative of trade union membership is driven by an agenda, but not one that is grounded in universal principles.
The principle that interprets the most representative national federation emanates from the United Nations. It is informed by the number of trade union organisations that are members of the federation.  It is not informed by how many workers are members of the federation or individual union. It is the same principle that guides representation in the United Nations (UN). Thus, it is seen that in as much as for instance India has a population of more than a billion and Guyana less than a million, both have one seat and one vote in the UN. Summarily, the International Labour Organisation, international and regional trade union federations follow this principle.
In keeping with this principle, the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), by virtue of having more union affiliation, is deemed the most representative federation. That this FITUG and the PPP have over the years positioned the issue otherwise does not make it acceptable or consistent with the principle that guides representation by international and regional organisations and have shaped laws, of which Guyana as a participating member is obliged to respect.
The PPP-aligned FITUG is playing a dangerous game in furtherance of an agenda that pose consequences for time-honoured principles which have served this world well. That body is sending a message to countries in CARICOM, the Caribbean Congress of Labour, and other regional bodies that representation ought not to be determined by principle of the collective but by the amount of a group. GAWU has boasted, without merit, that theirs is the largest union in the Caribbean. Caribbean unions need to be mindful that with this notion of largeness and superiority in numbers it means that this union has the right to dictate for others, or allow laws and time-honoured principles to be trampled to ensure the entitled position of pre-eminence. This attitude that stems from intolerance and contempt for equality, breaths actions that lead to domination, violations and transgressions.
Were countries in the Caribbean like Trinidad and Jamaica whose population sizes are greater than Guyana demand that at the level of CARICOM and workers representation they dominate, those in the PPP and FITUG will be among the first to scream that the voices of small-population states are being marginalised. It would be recalled it was same excuse used by the PPP to not have Guyana join the West Indian Federation.
And this brings me to the point to refresh the memories of some of my colleagues in the PPP FITUG. During the life of the PNC government on many occasions when GAWU and NAACIE had their problems with employers, leaders of the bauxite unions joined them on the picket line, be it rain or sunshine, to give the needed solidarity and support.  This year marks six years since 57 workers were dismissed by the Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated (BCGI) with the support of a government they were friendly with. Not one day, anyone from GAWU or NAACIE turned up at the picket line to give solidarity and support to the cause of bauxite workers.
It seems clearly that trade unionism for some is to marginalise and dominate others. What is also ironic about this FITUG is that they never miss the opportunity to demonise GTUC and its affiliates, including promoting the violation for the spirit and intent of held universal conventions in furtherance of their agenda.  Yet even as vilifications follow on notions that cannot withstand international scrutiny they claim to be seeking association or ways to engage. We are facing an issue of trust, respect for principles, rights and the rule of law.
Trust from a group of people who these tenets only matter when such are in their interest. For it was GAWU and NAACIE who in 1999 left the GTUC after a 72-hour national strike was called in solidarity with striking workers who were waging a struggle for increase wages/salary and improved working conditions and were shot by police on 19thMay, at John Fernandes Wharf. They publicly came out against the Guyana Public Service Union in their struggles to ensure the rights of public servants were upheld even though a similar incident took place in 1948 with striking sugar workers who this nation pays yearly pilgrimage to.
Lincoln Lewis,
General Secretary
Guyana Trade union Congress

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