Dear Editor,
It is interesting to note that GAWU’s Komal Chand has expressed solidarity with Guyana’s public servants. Mr Chand more than most understands the meaning of solidarity because labour movements around the world have stood in solidarity with GAWU through its heroic struggles for recognition and justice. It was GAWU that stood with the forces fighting Burnham’s dictatorship when some so-called labour unions were co-opted by his despotic rule.
However, this writer has had justifiable reason to question GAWU’s commitment to trade union principles in the period since the death of President Cheddi Jagan. The current situation in Guyana supports this position. After failure to reach an agreement at the table, the labour dispute between GAWU and GuySuCo was sent to arbitration by the Ministry of Labour. The subsequent award was a three per cent wage increase, an increase that is below the inflation rate.
At about the same time the award was announced the Government of Guyana announced a six per cent increase for public servants. One may be tempted to conclude that the public servants have done better.
However, the public servants have been denied their right to bargain while GAWU has maintained that right, even during Burnham’s dictatorship. It is for this reason that this writer finds Komal’s expression of solidarity with public servants interesting. He must have known all along that the imposition of settlements on workers is contrary to fundamental trade union principles and human rights. However, he found himself in a bind but has now regained his true voice and for that I applaud him.
Those who seek to balance the books of GuySuCo on the backs of sugar workers must and will pay the price. The anti-worker actions of some segments of the current regime are a natural outgrowth of policies dictated by the IMF/World Bank and other international financial agencies. The problem is that while many in the ruling party are naturally supportive of the working people of Guyana they just haven’t taken the time to examine the policies of the government they have formed and the contradictions in that relationship. It is not too late to recapture the agenda for which GAWU, the mine workers union, the professors union and other progressive unions, organizations and individuals fought so valiantly.
Yours faithfully,
Jang Singh
