Veteran trade unionist and long-time PPP executive Komal Chand died yesterday morning in Cuba where he had gone for treatment.
Tributes poured in yesterday for Chand, who had been the president of GAWU for many years, was also a PPP/C parliamentarian and had been a key figure in championing the rights of sugar workers. He had had health problems in recent months.
The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) yesterday said that it was thrown into mourning after it learnt of the passing of Chand.
“Cde Komal, as he was fondly known, joined the GAWU in 1975 as the Union’s Organising Secretary. At that time, the almost three (3) decade struggle for our Union’s recognition on behalf of the field and factory workers in the sugar industry reached a high point. It was on Old Year’s Day 1975 that a poll was held and at which the GAWU roundly defeated the incumbent MPCA to become the bargaining agent of the thousands of sugar workers who toiled in the fields and factories of the sugar estates. He was among those who on February 26, 1976 (signed) the Recognition and the Avoidance and Settlement of Disputes Agreement with the then Sugar Producers Association (SPA), the forerunner to GuySuCo.
“Cde Komal was most committed to his work and tasks and for that he enjoyed the respect of the workers. It was his dedication that saw him rising to become the Union’s General Secretary and later its President. He was, in our view, an outstanding trade unionist and very much committed to the upliftment and advancement of the working-class in our country and even beyond. Outside of GAWU, he served as the Vice President of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) and a member of the Presidential Council of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU).
“Cde Komal was also deeply admired by those who worked along and together. It was from this vantage point that many of us got an opportunity to see up close how deeply he cared for the workers and more so the working-people and their families. He always embraced and espoused policies and initiatives aimed at improving the standard-of-living and well-being of the ordinary people. He also recognized that unity was an essential pre-requisite in order for the workers to win out their principled and justifiable demands. He was always supportive of measures to bring about unity as he brought to bear his own ideas and experiences”, GAWU said.
It added that he displayed great fearlessness and was never afraid to stand up to authority.
“He also recognized too that for the workers to advance they must have a seat at the decision-making table. It was in this context that he entered the world of politics and became a Member of Parliament where he served from 1992 until the dissolution of the 11th Parliament in December, 2019. In the August house, he stood with and advocated on the workers’ behalf as he used his voice to promote pro-workers policies and strategies.
“Cde Komal for many of us in the Union was a source of encouragement. He encouraged and supported many in the Union and even beyond to work towards betterment and advancement. He was a staunch advocate of education recognizing the need for us all to be more capable and able. At times, he went out of his way, to lend his support to ensure that Union comrades could grasp at opportunities. Apart from that he always was willing to offer comrades his advice and lend a listening ear. It was those, among other qualities, that endeared him to many”, the union added.
GAWU said that the Union is much stronger and better for his efforts and his contributions, not only to GAWU but the trade union movement as a whole will be forever remembered.
In its statement, the PPP noted that Chand represented the PPP and the PPP/C in Parliament for over 20 years but that his most notable contribution was as the head of GAWU, the country’s largest trade union.
“His contributions to protecting the rights of sugar workers, fisherfolks, and forestry sectors employees, among others are well recognized across our country and will be remembered by generations to come. Also, his efforts to unify the Labour movement are unparalleled and this led to the formation of FITUG.
“Without a doubt, the brutality meted out to thousands of our sugar workers by the APNU+AFC during the past five years would have taken a severe toll on his well-being. But to the end, he remained undaunted and steadfast in his struggles to protect workers and defend their rights.
Comrade Komal Chand left a rich legacy of hard work, sacrifice and life-long commitment to the working people of Guyana”, the PPP added.
In a post on his Facebook page yesterday, Presidential candidate of the PPP/C Irfaan Ali said: “Guyana has lost a champion fighter for freedom, democracy and worker’s rights”.
He added that Chand dedicated his entire life to the service of humanity.
“He led the struggle in securing workers’ rights, welfare and freedom. His political life was one of dedication and commitment to democracy, social and economic justice which he fought for and defended until today when he closed his final innings in the journey of life,” Ali further said.
Ali said the party and Region 3 and Guyana had lost a “true patriot and exemplary Parliamentarian”.
FITUG
The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) said that its association with Chand goes back many years and he was among those that played a critical role in organisation’s establishment in 1988. Following FITUG’s resuscitation, he continued to serve the organization dedicatedly, the union body said.
“During his lifetime, he was a tireless champion of the workers. He was never afraid to speak his mind as he stood up in defence of the members of the GAWU and workers generally. He was also a staunch advocate for workers unity as he felt division was most harmful to their plight and call.
“Indeed, the FITUG is poorer with his loss but we are proud that we had the opportunity; we daresay privilege, to associate with him. The Federation is stronger for that and certainly will go on to higher heights because of the foundation laid by stalwarts like Komal Chand”, FITUG added.
Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo said that with Chand’s death, Guyana has lost an outstanding champion of the working class, more particularly sugar workers.
“On a personal note, my relationship with Komal Chand went back to the mid-sixties when we both served in the Progressive Youth Organisation (PYO) and, later in the PPP’s leadership.
“For over 50 years, Komal has been a consistent fighter for political and industrial democracy and for social rights of working people. He has always advocated trade union and national unity, and inclusive governance. He stood tall and courageous against corruption and mis-management, even when he had courted the disfavour of his own comrades.
“Komal Chand was an avowed Marxist-Leninist in the PPP’s leadership. Besides, he was also a staunch anti-imperialist whose record of struggles includes opposition to the war of aggression in Vietnam, Apartheid in South Africa and the blockade of Cuba. He was on picket lines and vigils in protest against the overthrow of the lawful Allende Government in Chile, and against the invasion of tiny Grenada.
“I will always remember Komal Chand as a down-to-earth and modest, grassroots leader. He was full of passion for the just causes that he embraced but gentle in his disposition towards all who knew him”, Nagamootoo added.
In its statement, the Alliance For Change said that Chand will be remembered as an indefatigable fighter which belied his gentleness as a person and character as a good man.
“Throughout his career he was not known to deviate from his principles or to engage in personal invectives and attacks on others – even when his views differed vastly from theirs.
“The Alliance for Change regrets that his position on sugar did not appreciate the national need for right-sizing of an industry in decline but we remember Mr. Chand as a man of principle, courage and dignity who has left an indelible mark on the trade union movement and has touched the lives of thousands.
“We express our profound sympathy to his grieving family and pray that comfort and solace will be found in the marvellous works of his long career as a workers’ representative”, the party said.
Nishal Chand, said of his father, “He was a principled individual who won’t waver on his principles at all”.
He remembered his father as someone who provided for the family’s necessities and was described as an overachiever who expected the same from his children. Currently the family is in a quandary as to how they could get their mother, who is without any physical and emotional support in this time of grief, back home, as well as the body of their father, particularly with the airports in Cuba and Guyana currently on lockdown.
“He struggled for workers’ rights, for better wages and salaries and better working conditions,” said former Wales Sugar Estate Field Secretary, Ricky Rambeer, who is presently stationed at the Uitvlugt Sugar Estate. The staunch leader of GAWU was also said to be a man who wore many hats, according to Gordon Thomas, another executive member at GAWU. “He [Chand] was a very outstanding trade unionist. He always stood for principle. We had one incident at Skeldon where the worker was right and the manager was aggressive towards the worker and dismissed [him] and Komal took a stand against [it] and said we needed to represent the worker to the fullest. We will surely miss him. He would have greatly contributed to GAWU.” Thomas said.
