Last Friday, George Ignatius De Peana, a son of our soil, was laid to rest in Trinidad and Tobago. The name George De Peana will probably have little or no bearing on the younger generation. To the older folks, the man was an unsung national hero, who excelled in two vastly different fields of endeavour; athletics and trade unionism.
De Peana stumbled into a career in athletics after unsuccessful ventures to make the Catholic Youth Organisation (CYO) football and cricket teams. Rather than standing idle, he took to running laps around the CYO ground. In the early 1950s, he finished sixth in his first Cross Country race, among a field of 400 entrants. Inspired by his initial performance, De Peana began training in earnest, targeting the middle-distance events. Distance running is a lonely and painful pursuit. Becoming a world-class, middle-distance runner requires the discipline of mind and body to spend copious amounts of time training to develop the unique amalgam of endurance and speed.
In his first overseas trip for British Guiana (BG), he captured a bronze medal at the Southern Games in Trinidad and Tobago, putting him in line for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Fifth on the selection priority list, a very disappointed De Peana missed the Games, as the available funds restricted BG’s team to only four members. Distraught, he considered quitting the sport, but words of encouragement from an athletic aficionado, Ken Richardson, the Shipping Manager of Sandbach Parker & Co Ltd, his place of employment, to focus on the 1960 Rome Olympics, kept him going.
Over the next four years, De Peana established himself as one of the premier middle distance runners in the Caribbean. As BG’s lone repre-sentative at the inaugural British West Indies Championships (BWC) in Jamaica, in 1957, De Peana carted off the gold medals in both the 5,000 and the 10,000 metre events. He duplicated the feat at the next two BWC events hosted by Trinidad and BG, in 1958 and in 1959, respectively, to complete an amazing double hat trick. On the latter occasion, Captain De Peana, led the home team to the championship title.
In 1958, De Peana represented BG in the Three Mile and Six Mile events at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Wales. At the 1959 Pan American Games, in Chicago, USA, De Peana, would just miss the podium, with fourth and fifth place finishes, in the 5,000 and 10,000 metres events, respectively. Canadian Doug Kyle, whom De Peana had defeated in an epic 5,000 metres battle at the GCC, Bourda, in September, 1957, captured the bronze and silver medals in the respective events. De Peana’s time of 31 minutes 16.24 seconds in the 10,000 metres in Chicago stood as a national record for 53 years, nine months and 23 days, until Kelvin Johnson broke it with a time of 31 minutes 14.14 seconds at the Trinidad and Tobago National Championships on 21st June, 2013 in Port-of-Spain. De Peana, quite appropriately, was on hand to witness it.
In 1960, De Peana achieved the ultimate goal of any athlete, to represent his country at the Olympic Games. Although he did not qualify for the finals of either event, it was the pinnacle achievement of his athletic career, which culminated with his retirement a year later.
De Peana’s attention was then drawn to the world of labour and trade unionism. Along with Gordon Todd, Fitzgerald Agard and other workers, he helped to organize the Sandbach Parker Branch of the Clerical and Commercial Workers Union (CCWU), serving as its first Chairman. In 1962, he was the recipient of a scholarship from the Ameri-can Institute for Free Labor Development to study Labour Development. Upon his return to BG, he found himself unemployed since his job had not been guaranteed by Sandbach Parker.
De Peana was soon appointed Coordinator of the Critchlow Labour Institute (the forerunner of the Critchlow Labour College), which had been formed to look after workers’ education. It was the commencement of his full-time immersion in the field of trade unionism, a vocation which would consume the rest of his working life. He was elected General Secretary of the CCWU in the mid-1960s, a posting which evolved into a full-time position, as the organisation developed into one of the largest unions in the country. During his tenure in office, he also served as Principal Assistant Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress.
In September 1976, following a two-year assign-ment for Workers’ Education in Jamaica for the International Labour Organisation (ILO), he was appointed to the post of Senior Specialist for Workers Education in the Caribbean. De Peana, along with his wife and three children then migrated to Trinidad, where the regional ILO office was located. Over the next 20 years, Brother George, or George, as he was referred to in the world of trade unionism, was constantly on the move. Covering a territory that included the French and Dutch West Indies, and ranging from Bermuda to Belize to Suriname, necessitated monthly travel to such an extent that his family thought he was living out of a suitcase.
Following his retirement from the ILO, De Peana was elected in 1997 as the General Secretary of the Caribbean Congress of Labour, where he served for three two-year terms.
Brother George touched many lives as he went the distance advocating for the rights of countless workers throughout the Caribbean. A tough negotiator at the collective bargaining table, De Peana presented the case for the necessity of an equal hearing for the workers, who kept the wheels turning for any organization, whether it was a manufacturing or service-oriented enterprise, and without whom they would be no entity. In recognition for his contribution to trade unionism, De Peana was conferred with a national award, the Cacique Crown of Honour, in 2003.
Brother George viewed his role in life as the humble servant chosen to ‘stand up to the haves for the have-nots’. Having completed his 85th lap in life three weeks earlier, De Peana passed away on July 26. For his long and dedicated service to his country and fellow man, it would be a fitting tribute to this son of the soil if a street were named in his memory.
Rest in peace, Brother George.
