Dear Editor,
It was extremely refreshing to hear the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, the Honourable Baldwin Spencer in opening the 5th Triennial Delegates Conference, paying a well earned tribute to the Guyana Labour Union. It was one of those speeches in which a man was in complete control of himself. I say refreshing because it is not easy to find political leaders and, moreso, prime ministers and presidents in the relatively small Caribbean region, willing to accord credit to any organization for their success and, furthermore to single out a trade union for this kind of praise.
During his address, Mr Spencer said that his government introduced legislation and made the Agency Shop into law in Antigua and Barbuda. Mr Spencer’s government is one of the independent Caribbean governments to put this piece of legislation on the statute books. He realizes that trade unions mean more to the region than just an agency dealing with wages and conditions of employment; that they are an integral part of the total society and the services which they render to their members must be justly rewarded by the dues which they are entitled to receive from those who benefit. I am sure that this piece of legislation would revolutionise the trade union movement in Guyana and accelerate the really quickening pace of social and economic development.
Mr Spencer further realizes that the trade union movement has a real contribution to make to the society which it serves and he is not afraid to state it publicly. Further, he is willing to let it be known that his country will be poorer without the active support and cooperation of the trade union movement.
Guyana Labour Union, the union that was led by the father of the trade union movement in these parts, Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow, this background of working closely with the trade union in its day-to-day functions has given me an understanding of the problems and appreciation of what it means to have a strong and virile trade union movement.
Yours faithfully,
Sherwood Clarke
Field Secretary,
Clerical and Commercial
Workers Union
