Political environment biggest threat to workers’ solidarity

May 08, 2022 News

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– union leaders should be demonstrating unity and strength to politicians – Chris Ram

Kaieteur News
By Zena Henry
After a two-year break, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, local labour unions still could not put their differences aside for the sake of Guyana’s working class. Instead, the regular division of workers was still a disappointing feature when umbrella unions; the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) and the Guyana Trade Union Congress (GTUC) hosted May Day events at different locations, last Sunday.
Senior members from both unions addressed the issue of disunity during their Labour Day speeches even as it was recognised that not only did the umbrella unions have separate events, but even some affiliate unions broke away and held their own activities after the customary solidarity march through the streets. Notably, the GPSU, the largest representative of public service workers, did not take part in that event.
At the rally organised by the GTUC, its General Secretary, Coretta McDonald questioned the government’s ‘One Guyana’ mantra. She accused them of “encouraging” different trade union rallies. President of the General Workers Union (GWU), Norris Witter said the struggles of workers cannot be won with the disunity among unions. He even encouraged those claiming to be union leaders but do not want to struggle with workers to find a different line of business. At the FITUG rally, its President, Carvil Duncan blamed the leadership of the GTUC for encouraging workers to break away. He said that he did not believe the workers were separating by choice, but by the will of their leaders.
The unions under the FITUG umbrella include the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) and the Guyana Labour Union (GLU), while GTUC includes the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), General Workers Union (GWU), and the Guyana Teachers Union, among others. The elephant in the room is that these factions are believed to have their affiliations with political parties; understandably so since it is no secret that the trade union movement was born out of political struggles for workers and citizens’ rights, particularly during the colonial era.
What is observed today is that workers may be a member of a particular union, but that union may be affiliated with a political party that the member does not support. That then results in the member marching with its umbrella body, but attending the meeting of the other union believed to be sympathetic to the political party the member supports.
Accountant and public commentator, Christopher Ram sees a stark reality for workers if this posture by labour unions continues. He believes that at this point, with all that Guyana has to gain, “it should be union leaders showing the politicians what solidarity and strength is and calling for unity among the political sides.” He told the Kaieteur News that given this behaviour, union leaders are showing that they are no better than the politicians.
Given that both the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic government and the former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) government have both failed to honour the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) convention on collective bargaining, Ram questioned why, to date, the umbrella unions have not found it necessary to make public a joint statement condemning the behaviour of both political parties. This mechanism which allows unions to bargain with employers for workers’ benefits, including wages, was frozen since 1999 under the PPP. The APNU+AFC government came to power, and they too ignored the ILO Convention. Additionally, unions should be unified against the non-payment of the $60,000 minimum wage increase that was promised two years ago.
Ram highlighted that there is hardly any evidence where political association is not present in Guyanese society; whether it be the private sector, the media or public sector, “and if persons at the top level are compromised, there is little chance for those at the lower level,” he highlighted. “My fear is that money, with much more money, people will become unconcerned about the abstract issues like good governance.” They may very well say that once they get some money, they are ok, Ram opined.
Economist Ramon Gaskin sees no change in the posture of labour unions any time too soon. He said that the real split in labour unions came in 1999, some 23 years ago after the more than 50-day strike by the GPSU members. He said that even now, some members are even more politicised with senior union leaders even having a seat in Parliament representing a political party. He said that governments treat their affiliated unions better than others and this continues to contribute to the disunity.
For example, he said, the current government cannot find a way to rescue the National Insurance Scheme which benefits an entire nation but found more than a billion dollars to pay sugar workers who had already received their severance pay after the closing of the sugar estates.
Gaskin reiterated that Guyanese workers are in for a rough time as this behaviour by unions is not likely to change. He said there are too many characters with agendas, such as political and ethnic ones involved. “The wider concern is not for the workers,” Gaskin opined. And that, he said, is a huge threat to workers’ solidarity.

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