…at Enmore martyrs observance
The sacrifice of the Enmore Martyrs was remembered yesterday amidst sharp exchanges between President of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), Gillian Burton and President Bharrat Jagdeo on the circumstances of workers today.
Lallabagee Kissoon, 30, Pooran, 19, Rambarran, Surujballi and Harry were killed while protesting at Enmore 61 years ago. A wreath-laying ceremony was held at the Enmore Martyrs’ Monument in the East Coast Demerara community yesterday.
Recounting the conditions under which the workers, who were killed, laboured, Burton said that the time has come to analyze the events that led to the actions they took and to reconstruct a way forward for workers in the country. “We must measure how far we have come from those demoralizing days to the present…is the system of employment better than it was years ago”, she queried declaring that these are some of the questions that must be asked and if the people are not satisfied then there is a need to have them addressed.
“If we are to look around at the entire labour scenario in our country today it is certainly not a very happy one”, she said adding that many benefits fought for by persons such as Dr. Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham “have today been transgressed by those for whom they fought to have it for”.
Presently, she said, workers continue to complain as in the past, of insufficient wages and salaries, the high cost of living and there is also fear and in some cases, victimization and harassment of workers representatives. “Bills passed lately in Parliament on labour issues are not entirely worker friendly rather they seek to harness our right to protest against those delinquent employers who seek to pattern themselves after those of the colonial era”, she said. The union leader declared that similar events to that of the Enmore Martyrs have since resurfaced in the pages of labour’s history and referred to the 1999 public servants strike which saw the shooting of protesting public servants by the police. She called for the recognition of that incident to become an annual observance.
However, in a sharp rebuttal, President Jagdeo said that persons need to be fair and to ask the question of whether workers are satisfied today ignores the difficulties that the PPP government has had in bringing people to the current level. “We have to make sure that we are not convenient with the truth”, he admonished.
The President asserted that the Administration is pro-labour declaring that to make a statement that it is not, is not a reflection of the truth. “We have to be holistic about this government”, he stated reiterating that workers have a friend in the government. He noted that demands today are greater than resources possessed by the government though he assured that the money will be spent on the people.
At the function, the President also spoke out against domestic violence and said that change has to come from the family. Federation of Independent Trades Union of Guyana head, Kenneth Joseph as well as Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union leader Komal Chand also spoke out on the issue.
Jagdeo said that it is important that the role of the Enmore Martyrs be recognized noting that the focus is more on their contribution to the labour movement and less on their contribution to the national political movement.
On the morning of June 16, 1948, a crowd of about 400 workers gathered outside the factory at Enmore for a protest and picketing exercise. By about 10 am the crowd had grown to between 500 and 600 persons and was led by one of the workers carrying a red flag. They attempted to enter the factory compound through the gates and through two trench gaps at the rear through which punts entered the factory.
However, they were prevented from doing so because the locked gates and the punt gaps were protected by policemen. A section of the crowd then hurled bricks and sticks at the policemen, and several persons managed to enter the compound on the rear of the factory. The policemen tried to push back the crowd, but after this effort failed, they opened fire and five workers were killed and fourteen others were injured. The five killed were Lallabagee Kissoon, Pooran, Rambarran, Surujballi and Harry. These men, through the years, became known as the Enmore Martyrs.