The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE),  along with Britain’s General Union (GMB) have begun a year long project entitled promoting legal rights and building union capacity in Guyana.
It aims to train 180 union representatives from late June 2010 to March 2011.
The training will address five identified pieces of labour legislation: the Trade Union Recognition Act; the Trade Union Act; the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act; the Occupational Health and Safety Act; and the Prevention of Discrimination Act.
The training is ongoing at the GAWU Labour College, Wight’s Lane, Kingston.
The objective of the training is to provide participants with a practical understanding of the legislation and other subjects with a view to enhancing the ability of shop stewards or representatives in conducting purposeful representation on behalf of workers. The majority of participants are shop stewards or potential shop stewards.
The trade union related subjects include the history of NAACIE and GAWU, the role of shop stewards, collective labour agreements, gender and trade union work, and  HIV/AIDS in the workplace.
The training will include a session on the situation and outlook of the Guyana Sugar Corporation and a representative of the corporation will use the opportunity to identify Guysuco’s main challenges and the steps that are taken to once again make the industry a viable business.
Six groups of participants have been identified and they are expected to work as a team through two sets of sessions which would be for about one week.
The project has the support of the British Trade Union Congress and the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers Association.
Global Sugar Programme is as a result of ongoing sugar networking activities, which, in the past six years, helped direct solidarity links between GMB on the one hand and GAWU and NAACIE on the other.
The GMB organizes workers at Tate and Lyle refinery in London, where Guyana’s sugar exported to Europe is refined. The training is also an example of GAWU’s and NAACIE’s commitment to the sugar industry.