Amidst pledges of assistance…
GUYANA Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) opened its spanking new $110M Labour College, on Wednesday, as part of its continuing efforts to promote working class education.
The building, construction of which took more than one year, is located adjacent to the Union’s headquarters at Lot 56 High Street and Wight’s Lane, Kingston, Georgetown.
It boasts two classrooms, dormitory facilities for 35 students, a library, executive room for overseas lecturers and a recreation room, among other facilities.
The institution will continue the work of the school which was destroyed when the previous headquarters, on Regent Street, also in the city, was burnt by fire in April 2001, following post elections disturbances in the capital/
With Mr. Navin Chandarpal appointed the Principal, it is hoped that the college will be of service to other trade unions in the country and in the Caribbean, he said.
The opening coincided with the month of activities celebrating the life and work of the late President of Guyana and former Honorary President of the Union, Dr. Cheddi Jagan, who was instrumental in ensuring that a union school existed within the same Regent Street building.
GAWU President, Mr. Komal Chand, in his remarks at the Wednesday ceremony, said the activity represents the realisation of a cherished dream and, from the union’s perspective, the construction is a monumental feat.
“In the overall and varied activities of our union, education has been a fixture on our agenda. It is a work spanning very many years. We consider it indispensable for a disciplined organisation and the struggles of our workers to understand the issues and engage in struggles linked to their basic and immediate interests,” he stated.
Chand said the thrust of their educational work, as in the past, will certainly continue to provide the essential tools and knowledge so members can be more and more effective at their workplaces and in trade union work.
“We seek also to lift our members’ overall consciousness. Working class unity, indeed national unity and solidarity are values dear to us and these are values that we promote in our educational activities, too,” he related.
Chand said: “We live in times that are troubled and a world that is becoming increasingly complex”, noting the grips of the economic and financial crises, the consequences of which caused millions of workers to be laid off their jobs and millions thrown out of their homes.
However, he declared the crises are a great education to the world’s workers, having exposed the capitalist system better from which they must learn.
“Organisation, education, unity, solidarity and struggles are our answer to defend our interests, our cause and bring alternative systems, more supportive of working peoples’ well-being and welfare,” Chand asserted.
He said the time has come for Government to be active, in a major way, in workers’ education.
“While the sugar industry is our largest base, our college will also serve workers from 11 other enterprises where our union enjoys bargaining rights,” Chand announced, stating that the college will be expected to deliver quality education programmes designed to accommodate the varying academic backgrounds of its members, while setting certain minimum levels in the content of what is to be delivered.

Appropriate subjects
He said he hopes, as the programmes develop, to be able to include members of sister unions in future and the intention is also to accommodate members who wish to move to higher professional levels, by providing training in some appropriate subjects and  develop certificate and diploma courses that can be fully accredited and recognised.
Chand said Dr. Jagan was a tower of strength for the union as, indeed, for the entire working class and the establishment of the GAWU Labour College is a tribute to the great teacher and educator.
He pledged to intensify efforts at providing quality workers education for its members and the wider trade union fraternity.
Director of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Sub-Regional Office for the Caribbean, Dr. Ana Teresa Romero, who also spoke at the forum, said this year will mark 43 years since Guyana ratified ILO Convention Number 87, which deals with freedom of association and the right to organise, in which one of the articles speak to the role of both workers and employers organisations in organising, representing the interest of their members and developing their programmes.
“I see the establishment of this college as fulfilling the requirement of seeking the interest of the membership,” she said, acknowledging that it is very important to include, as part of the agenda of any workers organization, the issue of workers education.
“Because it is only by educating the membership that you can raise the quality of your contributions to discussions on policies; that you can raise the contribution and the quality of what you contribute to any decision that is to be taken whether it has to do with macro-economic policy, social policy, or just general development objectives of the country,” Romero posited.
She said such a college is an excellent channel for raising the general level of awareness and ensuring that people can recognise the very important role that workers have to play in national policy and national development.
Romero urged the union members to engage in outreach because “it is extremely important that persons, not just in the membership, but beyond that community, recognise the role that you are playing, in terms of raising educational levels and raising awareness about world of work issues.”
She pointed out that world of work issues go beyond collective bargaining and have to do with a number of social and economic policies that, invariably, have an impact on workers and workers’ rights.
Romero said outreaches must not only take place at the local level as there are other colleges, inside and outside Guyana within the region and beyond the region, involved in similar work and it is extremely important to make those linkages and build those networks because, through their experiences, a tremendous amount of support can be gained.

External partnerships
She said international organisations are another major source of information and resources that can be used to leverage the programmes of the institution and the college work can be reinforce through external partnerships which are very important.
Romero said ILO does its work in the framework of the decent work agenda and looks forward to the college helping to spread the word about it.
She explained that decent work translates into the aspirations of average people and stands on four pillars – respect for rights, job creation, social protection and social dialogue.
“We, at the ILO, are extremely committed to the whole question of workers education and strengthening the capacity of both workers and employers, so that they can both have a meaningful place, at the table with Government, in helping to build and strengthen national development policy,” Romero said.
Congratulating GAWU, she assured that the union can count on the ILO to provide support, within the limits of its capabilities.
“But our commitment is there to make sure that your initiatives get the support that they need,” Romero pledged.
Minister of Labour, Mr. Manzoor Nadir recalled the struggles of GAWU to gain recognition to represent workers in the sugar industry and th
e contribution made by Dr. Jagan in that regard.
“We must give much appreciation and much credit to the struggles of Dr. Jagan and the PPP,” he concurred, agreeing it is important to stay truthful to the ideals of giving equal hearing and consideration to all sides at the table.
In that context, he gave GAWU the assurance that the Ministry of Labour continues to commit strongly to the principles under which the union was founded and the PPP Government has been governing.
“It is going to be a workers government and I have not had a mandate to do otherwise. But, in the mandate of the Ministry of Labour, we have been asked to be fair to all sides,” Nadir said.
He said, not so long ago,  the Trade Union Recognition and Certification Act was amended, which, after much struggle, recognised one umbrella group to speak on behalf of the labour movement.
“And we went back to the words of the ILO dating back to the 1920s, when the ILO introduced that the tripartite table should have the most representative organisations of workers and employers. That way, we stayed loyal to the entire voice of workers and the resounding voice of employers is represented and representing the wide cross-section of those two groups,” Nadir reminded.

Divine right
“And so, while some will still believe that they have a divine right, given by a dictator, to speak on behalf of labour in Guyana, our laws have been amended to ensure that the democratic voice of the labour movement, the collective voice of workers is heard at the table when we meet in social dialogue,” the Minister maintained.
He disclosed that the National Tripartite Committee has met for more than 70 times over the last 12 years and will continue to address national issues at that level.
Nadir revealed that there is a visiting ILO team to partner with workers’ and employers’ representatives and the Guyana Government, to develop a decent work country programme, based on the mentioned four pillars.
“I am confident that workers of Guyana are going to be well-represented, not only by their unions but by a strong Labour Department that is today looking out for the interest of over 80 per cent of the workforce,” he said.
Nadir said GAWU has a tremendous opportunity to extend, by reaching out and increasing membership throughout the length and breadth of the country and other unions, as well.
He gave much credit to GAWU for taking on this venture on its own and offered his congratulations on the magnificent achievement.
Another speaker, Minister of Education, Mr. Shaik Baksh conceded: “It is, undoubtedly, a major investment on the part of a trade union in Guyana and it demonstrates its vision and its commitment to its membership and, indeed, to Guyana as a whole.”
“But that is expected of a union like GAWU, which has a very rich history of success, achievement and growth in membership,” he said.
Baksh remembered that GAWU, like many of its sister unions the world over, began out of solidarity, unity, democracy and representation of the working class and, with the labour college, will have a strong institutionalisation of labour education.
He said this gives him great satisfaction because it is another building block for education in Guyana and, certainly, will contribute to greater access to it in the country.
Emphasising on quality education, Baksh said his ministry is committed to help provide some of the literature resource materials for the library.
“It is important for unions to build capacity and strengthen itself because, in these modern times, as I would say, it seems as though employers are getting the upper hand,” Baksh said
“We have to ensure that broader based education is offered, because, in the complex negotiations with management, you need skills to counter the arguments that management will put forward,” he accepted.
Baksh referred to programmes in general and financial management, civic education and accounting, for which his ministry stands ready to offer assistance.
“One area, in particular, I would like to see emphasis placed on is the labour education aspect in collective bargaining,” he said, confirming that collective bargaining including skills building, needs to be strengthened.

Online programmes
Importantly, Baksh recommended that the college must also embark on information technology (IT) skills training and said he would like to see, over time, online programmes in its curriculum delivery.
Offering the services of his ministry to help the college move forward, he said he sees it as an important development for education as a whole in Guyana.
Veteran trade unionist, Senior Counsel Ashton Chase, who delivered the feature address, underscored that education is a very important feature in life today and has been for a long time.
Alluding to the expectations of the college, he said it will provide an opportunity for participants in its programmes to study the past history of GAWU, so that any errors which were made in the past may not be repeated in the future, as well as the history of other trade unions, for the same reason, while giving good groundings on the system of socialism.
Recalling the history and struggles of the union in its early days, Mr. Chase was confident that persons who study at the college will be exposed to it and it would be of great benefit to them.
He said they will also get exposure to those who have made significant contributions in the development of the trade union, itself and trade unionism, generally.
“And it will make them, I have no doubt, feel very proud that they are associated with a union, some of whose leaders have contributed immensely to the advance of trade unionism in Guyana and the development of our own country,” Chase said.
He said heading the list of those who struggled for GAWU is the late President, Dr. Jagan, who devoted his entire working life and energy to workers’ causes and was ably assisted by his wife, Janet, who was an active figure in the political, social and labour movements of the country.
Among others at the function were Speaker of the National Assembly, Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran; daughter of late Presidents Cheddi and Janet Jagan, Mrs. Nadira Jagan-Brancier; more Ministers of the Government; members of the PPP; trade unionists; members of the Diplomatic Corps and the business sector.