– veteran Ashton Chase
VETERAN of the trade union movement, Senior Counsel Ashton Chase has acknowledged the tremendous contribution of the late President, Dr. Cheddi Jagan, towards the recognition of Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU).
Mr. Chase was delivering the feature address at the opening of the $110M GAWU Labour College on Wednesday. The function coincides with the month of activities to celebrate the life and work of Dr. Jagan who was formerly Honorary President GAWU and provided visionary leadership during its 28 years struggle, with the sugar planters, to be recognised as the bargaining agent for the thousands of sugar workers.
Chase, also a founding member of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC), forerunner of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), said education is a very important feature in life today and has been for a long time.
“The Labour College is expected to give systematic instructions on the objectives and the functions of trade unions; it is intended to muster support both within the trade union movement and in the wider field; it is to provide an opportunity for those who are participating 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 to study the history of other trade unions for the same reason and give good groundings on the system of socialism,” he outlined.
Chase said, when those who are participating in the work of the college come to study the history of their own union, they will be exposed to the vicissitudes of the sugar industry in the first case.
“The plantation overloads, how they exploited labour in this country, the system of colonialism, the exploitation of slaves and indentured labourers or indentured servants are all matters which those who are studying at the college will, certainly, be exposed to and which will be a great benefit to them,” he remarked.
Chase said, more particularly, persons will be exposed to those who have made significant contributions in the development of the trade union, itself and of 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,” he stated.
Chase said heading the list for those who struggled for GAWU would be Dr. Jagan, who devoted his entire working life and energy to the workers’ cause and was ably assisted by his dear wife, Mrs. Janet Jagan, who was an active figure in the political, social and labour movement of the country.
He reminded that Dr. Jagan was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1947 and took with him into that House an aggressiveness that shook, with vigour, the solemnity of the assemblage to which people had been accustomed and advocated workers’ rights.
Shop assistants
Chase said the late leader did a lot not only for sugar workers but for shop assistants and, at one time, was President of the Sawmill Workers Union.
He said, when Dr. Jagan was elected to the Legislative Assembly, he represented East Demerara but, at that time, he was under a ban by the sugar producers, not to visit his own constituency where sugar workers were but that did not frustrate him.
Chase remembered that Dr. Jagan continued his struggle.
“Initially, he went into the Man Power Citizens’ Association (MPCA) which, since in the late 1930s, was representing sugar workers but, when he failed to articulate the MPCA and make it a fighting instrument on behalf of sugar workers, he resigned the office of Treasurer which he held in that organisation,” he recalled.
Chase said, along with Dr. J.P Latchmansingh, Dr. Jagan established the Guiana Industrial Workers Union (GIWU), registered in 1940.
He recalled, too, that 1948 was a very significant year, with activities in the  Mackenzie bauxite industry where both Dr. Jagan and Mrs. Jagan played an important role in the struggles that took place for recognition of the trade union movement.
Chase said Dr. Jagan was active in the establishment of the first real working class party in the country, the PPP and headed the first Government elected under Universal Adult Suffrage in this country in 1953.
“His contribution and his work in the struggle by the Enmore workers in 1948 will be very significant because, even today, we celebrate the Enmore Martyrs, who were all executed on June 16, 1948, during their struggle not only for better conditions but also for the recognition of a trade union which had their backing and support,” he narrated.
Chase emphasised that, for many years. Dr. Jagan was the Honorary President of GAWU and his struggles to bring about Independence in this country is something that will never be forgotten by present and even future generations.
“It is a matter of some significance that GAWU is opening its college in this very month in which the country is celebrating the birth of Dr. Jagan,” he agreed.
Chase acknowledged the remarkable contributions to the union by Dr. Latchmansingh who was its first President and who went on to become a Minister in the first 1953 Government.
“But his relations with the union, although continued, faltered because, in 1955, I think it was, he aligned himself with the late L.F.S. Burnham in forming a splinter group from the PPP. It was one of the greatest defaults in the history of the unified working class movement in this country.
“And, for that, of course, he was expelled from the PPP and his reputation was tarnished,” Chase recalled.
First women
He also alluded to the contribution of Jane Phillips-Gay, the first Secretary of the union and one of the first women to enter Parliament in 1953 and referred to Philomena Sahoye-Shury, who held the same office later.
Chase reminisced, as well, on the work of Mr. Boysie Ramkarran, father of the present Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr. Ralph Ramkarran, who started as an employee in the transport services of this country but was one of the founding members of the PPP and later became a Minister in the PPP Administration and General Secretary of GAWU.
“…and helped, tremendously, in establishing the first labour college of this trade union when it was in Regent Street.”
Chase said those persons who enter the college will have a lot to learn from those persons.
He said a good library is essential as the history of many trade unions has been written and there should be books containing the historical facts about trade unions in the United Kingdom (UK) – where the movement started – in the Caribbean, Canada, the United States and elsewhere.
“And I have no doubt and hope it would take up the offer of the Minister of Education in introducing and promoting Information Technology skills so that the best use could be made of facilities for learning what other trade unions have done and ensuring that progress is made in the field of trade unionism,” Chase advised.
He extended best wishes to GAWU for further growth and strength, to have an informed and enlightened membership, have able officers and continue to make a contribution to the development of this country.
“An expenditure of $110M is a huge sum and I cannot visualize any other local trade union being able to meet that target to train its members at such a high cost and, therefore, GAWU deserves every congratulation,” Chase said.
He also wished GAWU longevity, growth and that the institution will turn out to be a leading one in the Caribb
ean.
The GAWU Labour College, construction of which took more than a year, is located adjacent to the Union’s headquarters, at Lot 56 High Street and Wight’s Lane, Kingston, Georgetown, with former Presidential Adviser, Mr. Navin Chandarpal as Principal.
It boasts two classrooms, dormitory facilities for 35 students, a library, executive room for overseas lecturers and a recreation room, among other facilities.
The college will continue the work of the union school which was destroyed when its headquarters on Regent Street, also in the city, was burnt in April 2001, following post elections disturbances in the capital.