The workers’ struggle for independence must not be taken for granted

May 27, 2018 Eye on Guyana with Lincoln Lewis, Features / Columnists

Our independence is about our will and collective determination as a people to determine, in our day-to-day affairs, what is just and fair for all of us. The impetus that fueled the action for internal self-government which achieved independence was started by the Trade Union Movement, under the leadership of Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow, registering the first mass-based organisation in Guyana and throughout the British Empire.

It was this movement that gave life and energy to the political movement which came in the 1940s. Since the 1920s, the trade union begun the process of moving to establish a system of government, where the masses were no longer excluded from its processes, decision-making and benefits. In fact, the trade union believed, and still does, that the best system of government is representative, which is built on the principle that the people’s desires will be heard, and thereafter articulated, advanced, protected and defended by their leaders.

In the pursuit of this level of determination, workers have seen prominent figures like Forbes Burnham and Cheddi Jagan, though known for their political leadership, were trade unionists too, who not only embraced Labour’s agenda, but had it form the foundation of the political agenda for independence and the desires of the people thereafter.

The Labour Movement, in its continued struggle for ensuring the dignity and respect for workers, has had serious differences with the political leadership that worked with us for independence, but such never saw them not listening to the workers’ voices and having them play a role in the management and decision-making processes of the State, its direction or workers’ specific concerns. Most of the Labour Laws, progressive policies and programmes redounding to the workers’ interest happened during the leadership of Jagan and Burnham.

There are many factors that may be responsible for this, such as workers’ militancy and political astuteness in recognising that though they emerged as the premier political leaders and masterminds of independence, their relevance, source of strength and meaning for their political existence and leadership relied on the workers. Arguably, this held them grounded and was of humbling effect.

The decision of the APNU+AFC Government to make redundant a Ministry of Labour is a heavy blow to local labour. This blow is even more painful this independence weekend, where pomp and ceremony are marking the fruit of the workers’ struggle. There’s no national conversation, recognition nor respect for what the workers have achieved for those who today mightily parade.

Let it be known, independence was not fought for by the ruling class or who aspired to be. That class and its aspirants were contented with the status quo, throwing crumbs at the workers, having them live and work under conditions less than favourable, giving assent to or looking down at them.

Last Friday as I was making a purchase at a stall, some well-meaning Guyanese thought it fitting to counsel me to be careful about what I say about the David Granger/Moses Nagamootoo Government. Their counsel was two-fold: – 1) fear of the PPP/C return to office and 2) the notion that with Labour’s call in 2015 to fire the PPP/C, comes expectation that the trade union will support the administration irrespective of. This thinking has to be fumigated.

My activism as a trade unionist and citizen is not personal, but driven by a core set of universal acceptable values, which I remain uncompromising on. This nation is reminded of a letter the trade union community wrote President Granger in September 2016 requesting a meeting to deal with issues of national character impacting workers’ well-being. To date the President has not found the time to talk with Labour, as priority is being given to travels aboard and addressing international fora.

Recently workers saw the President travelling to Wismar to open a play park, which sent a strong signal to them the primacy this government places on a constituent, primarily expected to play a major role in the nation’s development, and whose role, through the trade union, is expressly outlined in the Guyana Constitution.

According to this instrument – the legal foundation and framework of society -`the trade union has specific tasks in nation building and the development of the people, spanning the gamut of freedom of association (Article 147), right to work (149A), right to pension (Article 149B), a seat at the decision-making table (Articles 147 and 149C), building the economy through productivity and productive endeavours (Article 38) etc.

It is ill-advised of politicians to take workers for granted and see them only as a voting farm to feed their quest for power. This administration has seen it fitting to establish a Ministry of Business for a constituent who was comfortable with the colonial status quo. It was the workers who disrupted that status quo, making it possible for the incumbent to be in the Executive and National Assembly, yet we are seeing deliberate acts to have workers relegated to the margins of a society they led the charge to liberate.

Events of last Thursday in Barbados, where the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) was rooted out of office, must serve as a lesson for politicians in the Region. Barbadians are not known to be as revolutionary as other Caribbean peoples, but on this occasion they put the DLP in the streets, depriving the party of any parliamentary seat and Executive office.

The DLP is Errol Barrow’s party. He was a Founding Father of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). This party has been known, even in difficult times, to command the support of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU), and even some in the leadership of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW), the country’s two largest unions.

Recently, Donville Innis, DLP Member of Parliament publicly castigated the BWU and the NUPW, for carrying out their constitutional responsibility to their members. The arrogance that was observed by the DLP reached the point where then Prime Minister Freundel Stuart had the temerity during the campaign hustings to say when the DLP gets back in office he will take Barbados out of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

When one cannot understand and appreciate the development of this Region and the role of the workers in it, reckless statements and observations not grounded in history or constructive purpose will dominate and inform decision-making. These the workers must continue to guard against.

Elected officials who behave like the colonial governors, and not representatives of the people, tasked the responsibility to deliver leadership on behalf of the people, will be rejected by the people. The masses’ reaction to politics in the Region is changing. Workers know that in spite of the shortcomings of earlier regional leaders like Michael Manley, Burnham, Errol Barrow, John Compton, Eric Williams, Jagan, Robert Bradshaw, Vere Bird Snr, they were appreciative of them and the trade union playing a role in advancing the development of society – political, social, cultural and economic.