4Some amount of optimism still lies with those working to help bridge the rift in the local labour movement but there is an acceptance that the unification process will be slow.
The ongoing division between the unions had attracted the attention of the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL) and the Inter-national Labour Organisation (ILO) who held discussions with the different unions aimed at bringing them together. CCL General Secretary George De Peana and Chairman of the Workers’ Group of the ILO Governing Body Sir Roy Trotman have visited on several occasions and met with the unions as part of the effort and have stressed that if local unions continued to emphasise the division, the labour movement may be contributing to its own weakening and a situation in which some of the gains made over the years could dwindle or even removed. They say it is best that the unions reunite since it was in the best interest of those they represent.
Trotman has returned to Guyana and part of his mission is to meet with the unions to move the unification effort forward. Though he is encouraged that union members want unification, Trotman told Stabroek News on Friday that the process could be a slow one. “I do not expect that there will be the level of movement that I will dream for. The process of unification regrettably will be slow and there are many reasons for that which the whole of Guyana knows,” he said.
He pointed out that the Guyana labour movement has had a lot of baggage as well as that which has been imposed on it. “But my vision is that there would be a labour movement that is harmonised, not a single institution, but is harmonised but understanding that there will be diversity of a political nature and even of a religious nature but where the overriding and overarching concerns would be the interest of working men and women is Guyana,” he emphasised .
Asked whether he felt encouraged that the unions really wanted to see progress in their current situation, Trotman said he was satisfied from his very first meeting that from speaking to members of unions they are all are clearly able to understand that they cannot succeed if they are not united. “Trade union unity and solidarity is absolutely necessary if the objective of the labour movement is to represent the vulnerable and it is my hope that they will be able to put that at the head of the agenda,” he said.
For the last few years, the unions have marched together for the May Day parade but have held separate rallies. Many, which came under the umbrella organisation, the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), have since chosen to be represented by the resuscitated Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG).
