Dear Editor,
This continuous effort to rewrite history by seeking to paint some trade unions in a negative light, with only GAWU and NAACIE positively painted, is an act of public mischief. Hydar Ally’s letter ‘Most unions under the PNC were toothless poodles’ (SN, November 8) continues the misrepresentation of the trade union history and it will not be allowed to pass. To accuse most unions of being toothless poodles under the PNC administration is to be downright dishonest.
In challenging what Labour called the wage freeze of 1979, the bauxite workers led the way by taking strike action. Mr Ally and his comrades will want to say that this was not so by hiding behind the reference to the 1979 Guyana Stores Limited (GSL) issue, which was centred around Gordon Todd, President of the Clerical and Commercial Workers Union. Let it be known, Mr Todd is recorded at the 1981 conference of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) as saying that his union’s 1979 strike was not in pursuit of the $14.00, but one in support of the bauxite workers’ struggle for the $14.00. It was this strike by bauxite workers that redefined wages/salary policy in the public sector on increments.
It was the bauxite unions in 1989 who led the challenge to the National Budget and the devaluation of the Guyana dollar. It was the bauxite workers who started strike action on April 4. Some have spoken about the 1989 strike and attributed credit elsewhere, which is another dishonesty. The planning and executing of this strike included persons like Kenrick Noble (deceased) and Leslie Gonsalves (current President of the GTUC and the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union).
On the night of April 1 in the presence of President Desmond Hoyte, in an address to the gathering I said something had to be done to alleviate the economic hardship that would result from the devaluation. This was at the annual Bauxite Industry Award Ceremony, where I addressed the audience immediately prior to Mr Hoyte. This position was supported by the bauxite workers. At about 10 am on April 2, Noble and Gonsalves visited me and indicated that in support of my position the workers would be mobilised for industrial action.
The 1989 strike ran for 7 consecutive weeks and the bauxite unions negotiated another landmark agreement. This agreement included the bauxite company putting into a special fund, the equivalent of 1% of all calcine bauxite sales to subsidise the purchase of food for their workers. This fought-for benefit was taken away by the PPP government.
In 1988 the bauxite unions negotiated tax exempted overtime on all premium hours (in excess of 8 and 40 hours). The PNC government extended this benefit to sugar workers who did not fight for it. The PPP government took away the benefit from the bauxite workers but kept it for sugar workers.
The issue of redundancy in this country was conceptualised and developed in a document prepared by yours truly on February 11, 1991 on behalf of the bauxite unions. An agreement was struck with the bauxite industry in April 1993 where the nation experienced workers being granted six weeks’ pay for each year of service, so long as their job had been made redundant. This is an agreement that remains unmatched throughout the Caribbean. And let it be known, that this agreement preceded the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay law in this country, which today makes reference to redundancy that was not previously catered for in the law.
The efforts to rewrite history and deny some their rightful place and contributions in society must come to an end. Unions who the society are being led to think were toothless poodles under the PNC administration, have a proven track record as forerunners in the struggles, and in their ability to conceptualise, develop and work to achieve improvement in workers’ conditions of living, which have been extended to others. These unions have been the bedrock and laid the groundwork for many things that are taken for granted today.
Mr Ally and his comrades don’t have to go too far for a lesson. If they check the GPL/NAACIE Agreement they will observe approximately 80 % of what is ensconced in that agreement was extracted from an agreement signed between Omai and the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU). The GB&GWU team was led by Charles Sampson, and included yours truly, Sam T Fraser, and others.
We live in a society where some who have achieved and opted to remain humble are witnessing their contributions to society being stolen and credit awarded to those who have been the beneficiaries and not the initiators. While my references are to the bauxite unions, it must also be said that there were always formidable unions in the GTUC during the PNC administration, outside of the singular credit being bestowed on NAACIE and GAWU.
Mr Ally’s failure to honestly situate the eras of PNC and PPP administrations and his reckless statements to dismiss, steal and downgrade the contributions of other unions to the wellbeing of the workers, will not be allowed to pass. He and his comrades are put on notice that any continuation of their dismissal, stealing and downgrading the contributions of other unions will be challenged in the public sphere.
The state of the trade union movement today is a result of the direct involvement of the PPP. This nation is reminded that GAWU and NACCIE are outside of the GTUC as a result of the PPP government’s shooting of unarmed public servants at John Fernandes Wharf in May 1999 who were picketing for improved working conditions. This act is reminiscent of the colonial government’s shooting of sugar workers in June 1948.
The public should note while the PPP commemorates the Enmore Martyrs yearly as a reminder of the wrong the colonial government did to sugar workers, in 1999 the PPP felt it was OK to repeat this wrong against public servants. It must also be said since the PPP has sought to steal it, that it was the GTUC, under the leadership of Joseph Pollydore that fought for and achieved the martyrdom and erection of a monument for the slain sugar workers. And these were achieved in 1976 under the PNC administration.
After the government shooting of public servants during the 1999 public servants strike, GAWU voted to call strike action for 72-hours at the Executive Council of the GTUC. But within 24 hours from taking that decision the union wrote the GTUC suspending its membership under the claim that the decision to call the 72-hour protest against the shooting was undemocratic. NACCIE never gave a reason for leaving but exited on the heels of GAWU. The GLU, represented by Carvil Duncan, voted for the 72-hour strike and was the first to call out its members. It was Duncan, in demitting the presidency of the GTUC, who said NAACIE and GAWU are not interested in “trade union unity.” But months after he demitted the presidency he took the GLU into the PPP FITUG.
Mr Ally needs to examine his government’s current onslaught to make some unions irrelevant, the violation of the laws and the transgression of workers’ rights. The refusal of his government to enforce the laws to respect the rights of workers employed at the Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated, in their fifth year of struggle, I can say without fear of contradiction would not have been countenanced by Cheddi and Janet Jagan, Forbes Burnham or Desmond Hoyte.
The unjustified and unsubstantiated GTUC bashing must end. Every time Mr Ally and his comrades seek to engage in this sort of conduct and steal the contributions of some of its affiliates, I shall seek to put the evidence out there. No longer will there be silence from us on these issues. This society has persons who hold public office possessing no conscience or integrity, but such conduct will not be allowed on matters pertaining to the accurate history of the trade union movement. I’d be among the first to admit that the trade union movement has become a gravy train for some leaders who are using their position of privilege to enrich themselves as they turn a blind eye to the atrocities committed on the workers. Equally, I’ll be among the first to ensure the history of the movement is honestly recorded and Jack is given his jacket.
Yours faithfully,
Lincoln Lewis
General Secretary
GTUC