It is time for new thinking in the trade union movement

Nov 20, 2016 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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By HE David Granger

The British Guiana Trade Union Council (BGTUC) could have been 75 years old this year. It was

first registered on 8th April 1941 but was dissolved on 18th August 1941. It was reconstituted with a wider membership on 14th June 1943.
It reappeared on 29th November 1951 and was dissolved on 30th October 1953. It re-emerged on 11th December 1953 and, more or less, survives unto today as the Guyana Trade Union Congress (GTUC).
The GTUC should be proud of its historical record. It was in the vanguard of the struggle for a good life for workers organised in their unions. Individual unions knew that they could not successfully confront the might of employers, especially if those employers were multinationals allied to the colonial state.
The trade union movement became an instrument for mobilizing the working class for social change. It was not surprising, therefore, that the country’s two main anti-colonial political leaders – Forbes Burnham and Cheddi Jagan – had ties to the major trade unions in the country.
The ‘old model’ BGTUC became a powerful, popular force during the struggle for Independence. Congress, in its heyday, possessed strong arms – Trade Union Youth Movement (estb. 1966) and a Women’s Advisory Committee (WAC); published newspapers and booklets; held regular radio broadcasts; conducted vibrant education seminars; established a Labour College (estb. 1967) and its representatives sat in prominent positions on state agencies, boards and commissions.
The GTUC model now needs to re-examine its role and redefine itself. It needs to take account of changes in workers’ well-being over the past seventy-five years; the implosion of workers’ states around the world and the changing nature of the job market.
The struggles of workers in Guyana over the past one hundred years have paid dividends. The working class is still confronted, however, by many challenges. Workers have won, over time, the right to organize themselves into unions.
Trade unions have won the right to recognition. Hours of work have been reduced. Unions have fought and succeeded in having higher wages and improved working and living conditions. A raft of laws now guarantees rights and protections to workers.
Housing, health, water and electricity have improved the lives of workers in Guyana. The trade union movement must be applauded for its contributions to improving the lot of workers.

A NEW MODEL
A ‘new model’ of trade unionism is needed to build on these successes and promote 21st century trade unionism. Technology has rendered certain jobs redundant and led to downsizing in many industries. Outsourcing has added to job losses. Globalization has led to jobless growth in some instances. These developments have weakened the trade union movement.
Trade union membership has shrunk. It is estimated in Guyana that less than 20 per cent of the workforce is now unionized. The decline in union membership has affected the capability and credibility of trade unions.
A new model aimed at restoring workers’ confidence and enhancing capacity-building of trade unions must be considered. A new model is also needed to take account of changes in the job market.
The International Labour Organization in its World Employment Social Outlook 2015 report noted that:
– employment growth is weak, partly because of the decline in global demand and falling productivity; globally only 50 per cent of workers are in wage and salary employment;

– employment is shifting towards part-time, single, self-employment and contributing family work which are anticipated to constitute thirty per cent of new jobs between 2015 and 2019.
The diversified, fragmented nature of employment markets will present serious challenges for the unionization of workers and the protection of their rights. It will require a re-evaluation of the model of trade union organization.
The GTUC, as an association of trade unions, has to redefine itself in light of these existential challenges which confront the labour movement. Its attention has to be concentrated on addressing the concerns of the working class, including those who are unemployed.
The trade union movement, in adapting to these new circumstances, must embrace a model that promotes:
– education: We are living in a globalized era. Knowledge-based industries are the main drivers of economic growth and competitiveness. Workers need to be educated and skilled if they are to function effectively in the workplace. Workers need education to improve their upward mobility. Education will open greater opportunities for the unemployed to secure jobs. The provision of educational services for workers and the unemployed must become GTUC’s central focus.
– employment: The trade union movement must position itself to promote self-employment amongst workers as a means of reducing unemployment. Mechanisms such as credit unions run by trade unions can help the unemployed with credit to launch their own businesses. The GTUC must examine ways to provide seed capital, skills training and mentoring to encourage job creation through entrepreneurship.
GTUC must help to arrest the alienation of workers from their unions if the movement is to survive. Workers need to be engaged. Trade unions need to consider the changes that are taking place around the world and away from the comfort of the coastland.
Guyana is a blessed country – it is the green heart of the world. Guyana is at the very centre of the Guiana Shield – one of the world’s last remaining blocks of virgin tropical rainforests. Guyana is a net carbon sink. Forests envelop more than 85 per cent of its land mass, the second highest percentage forest cover in the world. The forests sequester carbon, purify the air and reduce the greenhouse effect, thereby mitigating the adverse effects of climate change.
Guyana is to become a ‘green state’ and can become a workers’ paradise. The ‘Green state’ rests on four pillars:
– the provision of educational, environmental services and ecotourism;
– the protection of our biodiversity and wildlife and management of our coastal zone, rivers, wetlands and protected areas;
– the generation of sustainable energy; and,
– the mitigation of the adverse effects of climate change.
A new model for trade unionism, appropriate to the ‘Green State’ must emerge. The old model has outlived its usefulness. It is written:
Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
It is time for new wine and new thinking in the trade union movement.

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