Heirs of the Enmore Martyrs … 74 years after and still in the struggle

Jun 16, 2022 Letters

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Dear Editor,

In the light of developments in the sugar industry, this year’s 74th anniversary of the Enmore Martyrs, is likely to be overshadowed by a more somber and reflective mood among those who still cling romantically to the days when sugar was king hoping that, that era will somehow return and not dim before their very eyes.
June 16th, is the date identified as Enmore Martyrs Day. It’s observance is usually done by recalling the difficult conditions under which sugar workers toiled and sacrificed at that time. Above all, we pay homage to the five who were shot and killed and the two others who were injured as a result of the colonial polices’ actions at the Enmore Estate on the East Coast of Demerara.
One year earlier in 1947, Cheddi Jagan won a seat in what was then called the Legislative Council or ‘Legco.’ Three years after, the PPP was formed on January 1st, 1950.
Following the victory of the PPP at elections held in June 1953 and with a majority in the House of Assembly, the Labour Movement Bill was passed on the same day the British troops intervened in October 1953 and the constitution suspended bringing an end to the first PPP government just after 133 days in office.
Fifteen years (1963) after the death of their Comrades, the heirs of the Enmore Martyrs and management of the sugar industry were locked in an 80-day strike. This time, it was in connection with what was known then as the Labour Relations Bill. That Bill later became the Trade Union Recognition Bill.
With the odds stacked against them, the Heirs of The Enmore Martyrs, showed tremendous grit and determination in maintaining the effectiveness of their strike action for eighty days. Ultimately, local politics and capital combined, weaponising the Bill as a means to destabilise the PPP government in the 1962-1964 period.
Fourteen years after the eighty-day strike and twenty-nine years after the fatal shooting at Enmore, the militancy of the sugar workers was rekindled once again.
Sugar workers struck for 13-weeks in 1977 in support of a poll in the sugar industry to determine the Union of the workers’ choice. The strike proceeded in two stages; the first stage lasted for seven weeks while the second phase lasted for six weeks. That strike was to become unprecedented in the history of industrial relations in Guyana, it was the first strike ever that was ‘adjourned’ and then ‘resumed’.
During that strike, intense negotiations with management were led by experienced trade union giants including ‘Boysie’ Ram Karran, Cheddi Jagan, Harry Lall, Philomena Sahoye, Maccie Hamid, Komal Chand and others.
After thirteen weeks of struggle, the Burnham administration finally caved in, agreeing to conduct a poll in the sugar industry. The result proved that GAWU was the choice of the sugar workers as their sole legitimate representative. History had absolved the efforts of the Enmore Martyrs.
But recognition brought with it new challenges. A major battle was won but the now famous cry; ‘La Luta Continua’ reverberated throughout the sugar industry.
During the 1976 to 1984 period, the heirs of the Enmore Martyrs continued to press their demands for better wages and improved working conditions; their entitlement to merit increments and collective bargaining and for honouring and upholding agreements reached between the union and management;
Sugar workers opposed the TUC’s efforts to downgrade their Union’s membership in order to minimise its numerical strength on leading bodies of the TUC; they fought to be included in profit sharing; the right to severance pay and against victimisation and intimidation.
Sugar workers resisted efforts by the Burnham dictatorship to pit bauxite workers against sugar workers and clerical and commercial workers against bauxite workers; sugar workers opposed state terrorism and centrally directed thuggery to frustrate the growing manifestations of working class unity and solidarity reminiscent of the 1940’s. Above all, they joined in the struggle for free and fair elections demanding the right to elect a government of their choice.
For decades agriculture, with sugar, as the major sub-sector, has been the backbone of Guyana’s economy. No other industry has emerged and established itself as a way of life for hundreds of thousands of Guyanese as the sugar industry did.
Concomitantly, no other contingent of the Guyanese working class, save the heirs of the Enmore Martyrs have faced uncalled for attacks, wrongful accusations, victimisation and intimidation by the ruling elites in colonial and post-colonial times.
True to their commitment to continue the struggle for better wages and working conditions initiated by their predecessors in June 1948, Guyanese sugar workers emerged as the most politically conscious and militant branch of the Guyanese working class.
Suffice it to say, bauxite workers, waterfront workers and clerical and commercial workers all had their taste of oppression and suppression by the ruling elite during the period of the 1970’s and 1980’s.
That occurred at a time when real and genuine episodes of working class unity in Guyana emerged posing a serious threat to the rule of the Burnham dictatorship.
One great success of the sugar workers and their Union leaders at that time was their ability to combine the industrial with the political struggle.
The full force of the coercive arm of the State was meted out to sugar workers; digging up their yards in search for arms and ammunition; making unwarranted arrests and detentions; harassment; seizure of food supplies; surveillance by the Special Branch of the Police Force; using armed thugs to beat up sugar workers, and, in some instances, using scab labour to break strikes; along with persistent attacks on trade unions that eventuated in what we have today – a fractured trade union movement. Small wonder why the national outcry for a $60,000 national minimum wage has asphyxiated due to a lack of oxygen that should come from a united and energised labour movement.
Seventy-four years after the Enmore shooting and the emergence of at least three generations of workers, the sugar industry now appears to be on the cusp of a redefining period that demands ‘sweeping changes’ if it to survive.
In every election manifesto the PPP/C, has expressed consistent support for the sugar industry to; ‘ensure its viability;’ that it ‘remains an important mainstay of the economy’; that it will ‘expand and modernise the industry to make it globally competitive’ and that it will ‘improve the welfare of the workers and the social infrastructure on the estates.’ But the promises made have been debilitated by a combination of global and domestic realities.
Developments in the sugar industry over the past year or so, including the most recent at Uitvlugt, poor production and the slow pace in reopening shuttered estates have caused many to express concern over what they see as a redefined industry that will impact the welfare of sugar workers and their families across the entire sugar belt.
Concerns have been expressed over redefining the future of the industry as exemplified by a narrative hinting at ‘impending changes’ in the industry; that workers should ‘seek alternative avenues of employment’ with a view to ‘transitioning to get higher paying jobs in other sectors.’
The use of these reference points framed in a new narrative must be concerning for sugar workers.
The extending of ‘golden handshakes’ of $250K to sugar workers as part compensation for earnings lost and also to establish income generating activities; offers of training opportunities; assurances of part-time jobs; offers of a 10-day $40K per month jobs; and an open invitation to join in the GOAL scholarship programme must have been welcomed by sugar workers who had earlier received the COVID 19 $25K cash grant and wage increases in 2020 and 2021.
To the worker’s concern over the call for them to ‘transition’ to other jobs and hints at redefining the industry’s future, was the sale of fifty-five acres of ‘sugar land.’ We were told that the packaging plant at Enmore is to be relocated and reassembled at Region Six.
Of interest to workers was the news that GuySuCo’s Training Centre at Port Mourant will be converted to a National Oil and Gas Institute. That training Centre was at one time, the only one of its kind in CARICOM, it supplied many highly trained mechanics to a number of CARICOM countries.
However, these untoward developments notwithstanding, a sliver of hope, real or imagined, continues persists in the minds of workers that the industry will be back on its feet sooner than later, and that the die will not be cast to put the future of the industry in jeopardy.
The sliver of hope came on the eve of Enmore Marty’s Day when President Ali, at a meeting with the leadership of GuySuCo read the riot act declaring; “It cannot be business as usual anymore, there must be sweeping changes.”
Adopting a no-holes-barred position, the President continued, “We are not investing all of these resources in GuySuCo for failure. The restructuring and strengthening of GuySuCo is not a joke. When we said we want to make this industry viable, it is not a mystery”
The problems plaguing GuySuCo aside, there is hardly any doubt in anyone’s mind that the oil and gas sector is strategically poised to replace the sugar industry as the major contributor to Guyana’s GDP growth rate.
It is in that context that the question being asked is; which branch, if any, of the Guyanese working people will replace the sugar workers as the most militant and politically conscious?
The answer is probably too futuristic. Let us pray that the legacy left to the Guyanese working people by the Enmore Martyrs does not fade away.

Yours faithfully,
Clement J. Rohee

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