Longstanding trade unionist and PPP stalwart Philomena Sahoye-Shury who passed away yesterday has left behind an indomitable footprint in the fight for workers’ rights and benefits, GAWU President Seepaul Narine said last night.
News of Sahoye-Shury’s passing at the age of 91 was shared on social media by People’s Progressive Party General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo. Apart from being a trade unionist, she was a political activist and member of the People’s Progressive Party. She also served as a Member of Parliament and Deputy Mayor of Georgetown.
She worked in government up to 2015 when she served as the National Director of Community Development Councils. Her position was terminated on the ascension of the APNU+AFC government to office.
Narine in an invited comment last night told Stabroek News that up to the last days of Sahoye-Shury’s life she used her voice to advocate for the workers’ struggle.
He said that her fight has contributed to the strong union GAWU is today and her contribution has paved the way for workers to be beneficiaries of better working conditions.
During her days of the championing of workers’ rights, Narine said she earned the sobriquet “Fireball.”
Narine went on to state that he and many other leaders of GAWU gained from her knowledge and mentorship.
“She was strong and opinionated, brave and courageous and made valuable contributions to our union. We have lost a pillar!” said Narine.
In a short post on his Facebook page, Vice President Jagdeo said “On behalf of myself and the People’s Progressive Party, I wish to extended deepest condolences to the relatives and friends of Cde Philomena Sahoye-Shury following her passing.”
His post was re-shared by many party supporters who also expressed condolences to her family.
PPP member Robert Persaud in commenting on her passing said “The PPP defined women power in Guyana…Philomena was a trailblazer without sirens and bodyguards.”
Former President Donald Ramotar in an invited comment said he was saddened to hear that she has passed.
He said she has made a major contribution in the fight for working people in the country. “At GAWU she paid for her conviction as she was in detained in 1964 for speaking out, but she stood her ground. She never lost faith in the PPP nor in the working class,” he said.
After the PPP won office again in 1992, he recalled that she started mobilising people and her ‘Fireball’ passion was relived. “She worked until she could not work any longer and in that always tried to improve the lives of ordinary people. She, to me, is not only a hero of the PPP but of the country.”
He extended sympathies to her family, even as he reflected on her works, saying that the nation should be consoled by the quality of life she lived.
Last year in a letter penned to this newspaper, on her 90th birthday, Ramotar said Sahoye-Shury had lived 90 glorious years which were filled with struggles, joys, disappointments, danger and daring exploits.
Glimpses
In his letter sharing glimpses into her eventful life, the former President penned “She was fifteen years old when Cheddi and Janet Jagan, Ashton Chase and Jocelyn Hubbard began the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) and took the first steps in the fight for freedom. Philo was one of the young people who became highly motivated by the vision that the PAC comrades had expressed and embraced the ideals that they were fighting for.”
“Her sense of justice and strong feelings for the working people, the oppressed and downtrodden masses propelled her into the ranks of the PPP.
“She rose to prominence in the late 1950s and early 1960s when the PPP was encouraging and organizing the sugar workers to form a union. The union which had made a powerful impact on the workers, the Guiana Industrial Workers Union (GIWU) became defunct after the split of the PPP in 1955.
“When the new union was formed, Philomena became the General Secretary, while Harry Lall occupied the position as President of the union. It was first called the Guiana Sugar Workers Union, that name came as a request of Philomena’s. It was later changed to the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU).
“It was here that she was tested. She was forged in the fire of struggle and became a woman of steel. In this position”, he said.
During the bitter struggle for recognition in the early 1960s and in 1964 in particular he said that Sahoye-Shury stood out as a great fighter. She made rousing speeches at mammoth rallies in challenging the sugar gods. He pointed out that she was charged on numerous occasions and dragged before the courts for sedition. This was during the strike that evolved for union recognition. It was while she was on her way to the Rose Hall Court in June of 1964 to answer one of those charges that she was once again arrested and detained. She was the only woman that the colonial police arrested in that period. She bore prison with great fortitude and refused to bend to the oppressors’ will as many had done before, Ramotar said.
