Dear Editor,
Having read about issues being addressed by GAWU these being about treatment, pay and ‘lef lef’ I am wondering if the collective voice does not have an identity crisis. Also, each effort to represent must be strictly contextualized. Is there contextualizing of representative activity? Guyana must interpret its identity which has changed substantially and will change even more as the vast resources are tapped. There used to be an identity which showed the Guyanese as poor, scrambling, warlike, educated, forthright, friendly, and hostile. Landscape would have helped to create this identity. A hostile landscape requires qualities of strength and decision -making because these determine survival. Just look at a video of a boat- knifing through whitewater and there is an image of Guyanese courage.
The new identity must contain all of what is positive in the former identity but, now there has to be more. Guyana is no longer ’hat in hand’. The beggar has become the king! It is Exxon which has to see itself as ‘hat in hand’ so much so that they disposed of holdings in their dash to Guyana. The new identity does not include subservient gratitude for the development of any resource, gold, diamonds, bauxite included. The then international hopefuls were dying to have the oil and gold and diamonds. The attitude to the foreign investor has to be unapologetically Guyanese. So, ‘lef, lef’ is ‘lef lef’. The attitude in this confident new identity is respect our culture right now. You offend our culture, you offend our nation, and there is no tolerance for this. Cut the discussion. Inform them. Presume the best: they did not know. Wherever, they brought the practice from of disrespecting employees let them send it back. Guyana must know it has the upper hand.
This generation of labour must nurture and preserve a new and burgeoning identity of Guyanese labour. If this is not done the essence of the nation will be sacrificed. Future generations will have inherited a culture of complaint and reactiveness which demeans the vibrancy and uniqueness of the Guyanese nation. Contextualizing means that the days of the foreigner who enters your land to take your riches and disrespect your people are over. They belong to an age that deeply wounded our ancestors. They must not be repeated. The ‘now’ context is that while Guyana will allow exploitation of its resources there are lines of human interaction at this time in our history which must not ever be crossed. And the union must know that this new context requires a bold, confident approach with ultimata given if unapologetic dialogue does not work. Now is the time to put a stop to the discriminatory practice of undervaluing the skills of the host nation. None of that! No enclave settlements because the foreigners do not want to rub shoulders with the locals. No apartheid! No lack of concern for the welfare of the local person. Same privileges, same compensation.
Guyana is called to set an example of courage and bargaining power the region and the world has not seen before. GAWU must set down the rules. They are on their home ground. They can call the shots. When you are wealthy you can do that. Guyana is wealthy. Exxon and other foreign investors will become hugely wealthy and that is why they are in Guyana. They may only understand their social responsibility if their pockets are touched. The union has to know what its power rests on. It must contextualize effort. Let GAWU tell them to take their assets and go if they are so stupid to presume that labour in Guyana will swallow ill treatment, bad pay, and ‘lef lef’. So I say.
Sincerely,
Gabriella Rodriguez
Trinidad & Tobago
