‘Unfortunately, the Trade Union Movement has been polarised and has now become a toothless lion bereft of balls’
It might well be imagination, but those who frequently walk past the courtyard of the Public Buildings, now commonly called Parliament Building, might well see tears dropping from the sculptured eyeballs of the statue of Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow, the father of Trade Unionism in British Guyana and the British Caribbean.

But this might be small wonder as Critchlow might well be tumbling in his grave in despair over the parlous state that has befallen the once powerful Trade Union movement in Guyana.

The movement had been placed on very formidable foundation through the sterling and indefatigable efforts of stalwarts like himself, Boysie Ramkarran, Joseph Pollydore, Alex Perry, Egbert Bolton, Harrylall, Andrew Jackson, Joseph Agard, Gordon Todd and others far too numerous to chronicle.

Unfortunately, the Trade Union Movement has been polarised and has now become a toothless lion bereft of balls.

Militancy is conspicuously absent and several thousand workers have been left adrift on a rudderless ship in open sea.

Trade Unions appear to have lost direction ever since many of them relegated their obligations towards the workers they are intended to represent.

Instead, they sought to usurp the role of politicians at the expense of the needs of their membership. In addition, after so many decades of existence, the vast majority of workers in Guyana, remain non-unionised and are exposed to the whims and caprices of several unscrupulous employers who openly find no comfort, even in the mention of the name ‘Union’, that appears to conjure up all sorts of evils.

Perhaps the very conduct of certain Trade Union leaders might be contributory to this misplaced abhorrence. But there are some very capable Trade Unionists who are committed to the cause of labour.

Perhaps employers do have good and reasonable cause for skepticism in relation to dealings with trade Unions generally.

They all seem to use the very same track methods that might have been appropriate and acceptable fifty years ago rather than adjust to the contemporary situation.

Collective bargaining in this country is definitely not scientific in scope.

A demand is made by the Union for an out-of-context percentage across-the-board increase with the full knowledge that it will be whittled down substantially.

Most employers have the same mind-set and, in the final analysis, agree to pay increases or give benefits that are at times not rationally justified.

That is certainly not professional collective bargaining which is based upon specific criteria that include, inter alia, ability to pay, comparability, cost of living, standard of living, budgetary analysis, inflationary trends and the value of jobs.

The easier way out is ‘across-the-board’ agreements, which give the same percentage increase ‘en bloc’ whether the employee is good, bad or indifferent on the job or in conduct.

Another tragedy of our trade Unions is the failure to educate and encourage workers to spend earnings wisely based upon relevant priorities.

Far too much income is spent on entertainment on a regular basis where scarce dollars are spent on liquor, fancy dress wear, junk food, cigarettes and others.

Inasmuch as an employer is expected to have social concern for the well-being of employees, the primary concern is invariably profits.

Enlightened employers are willing to pay the value for the job to be performed but the vast majority have a preference for underpaying while expecting optimum individual and collective productivity.

Progressive Trade Unions must also encourage their membership to beneficially utilize available spare time after normal working hours, rather than ‘idling’ and ‘liming’ around doing absolutely nothing productive for at least three hours of their spare time.

Instead, many Unions maintain drinking dens on their premises that deprive their members of scarce dollars needed to sustain their families.

And they expect employers to under-write the short-fall in income at the bargaining table. This is the height of irresponsibility and is totally unacceptable. Why should an employer be expected to over-price a job by subsidisation.

A new vision is an absolute imperative, particularly to gain the respect of employers and to encourage mobilization from that vast untapped resource of employees who remain unrepresented.

This is somewhat akin to the vast number of businesses that are still not under the umbrella of Employer’s Organisations that claim to represent the Private Sector.

This perhaps explains the irony of a weak Trade Union Movement viz-a-viz an equally weak Private Sector operating in our Republic.

And the Private sector is expected to function as the engine of growth in Guyana!

Unfortunately it appears to have only two gears in its present form, i.e., slow and dead slow.

It needs to get into automatic and shift to top gear in a flash as time is the essence for economic growth in the twenty first century. Otherwise we shall remain stuck in the Guyana mud.