Dear Editor,
I wish to congratulate Ms Simona Broomes for the splendid work she has been doing in the field of labour. In all my life as a trade unionist, I have never seen a fearless fighter for workers’ rights such as her; she has taken the fight to the employers who were exploiting their workers. She can rank with Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow and Kowsilla who gave her life preventing scabs from breaking a strike a Leonora; she was crushed to death while striking against poor working conditions. Ms Broomes has fought relentlessly and has bequeathed a rich legacy of gains for all categories of exploited workers. What she has achieved in a short time, no other labour minister and trade union leader has achieved.
History will record her as a friend and champion of all workers just like the late Dr Cheddi Jagan, who also struggled alongside the working people and others for better pay and hours of work, as well as acceptable working conditions. With Ms Broomes at the helm, conditions are now developing under which we can return to the days when the reasons we advance for adopting one position or another must reflect how it affects the workers, and not whether it is for or against the interests of the government. The conditions of workers under the PPP have been rightly decried.
Before she was included in President David Granger’s cabinet, I followed her work in human trafficking in the interior, where she has rescued a number of teenage girls and received an award from the United States for her crusade. She herself was, after all, an ex-miner and used her experiences in the mining industry to sharpen her understanding of human exploitation in its many manifestations.
She has visited many places of employment and conducted surveys over the past 7 months to settle issues of underpayment which were long festering, and which allowed some unscrupulous employers to benefit by increasing their exploitation of workers. I am heartened by the fact that we had a minister who was ready to intervene and assist in resolving labour matters. This is vital if the ministry is to improve the working and living conditions of workers. I have noted that she has created her own strategies for representing the poor which I really admire. I am always moved and deeply touched by the sincere way in which she deals with workers’ issues.
She decided to visit many places of employment and to hear workers’ complaints; she also saw the horrifying conditions which existed in their workplaces and their suffering.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
