GAWU said its felicitations on Guyana’s 40th Republic anniversary are tempered by sober reflection on the nation’s progress which has been mixed with a number of challenges and urges leaders to pass this milestone with less confrontation.
In a press release Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) said four decades can indicate just how a country chartered a particular course to collective development, social progress or courted stagnation or destruction. It said for too long there has been national inertia and the trampling of people’s rights which has resulted in relative social and economic stagnation where the working class bore and continues to bear the brunt of the devastation.
GAWU said the dawning of a new political era in 1992 brought hope but since that time the country suffered political turmoil in 1997 and in 2002, and it was further challenges by the Great Flood in 2005. The union said it is still struggling in the face of external, EU-engineered challenges to the sale of Guyana’s sugar and recently, the reluctance of local sugar executives to recognise workers’ contribution.
According to GAWU it has taken a responsible posture as the national organisation representing the labour of vital sectors of the economy which informs its own policies and conciliatory character in the face of both global and local economic challenges. The union said its earnest wish if for leaders on both sides of the political spectrum to find ways to negotiate joint ventures for the nation’s development.
“Let the post-fortieth Republic Anniversary milestone be characterised by co-operation and less confrontation,” GAWU urged. The union also called for leaders to exhibit responsible behaviour in response to local elections, global downturns or differences in their approaches to issues.