WHEN one thinks of the history of economic and social development in Guyana, one is likely to think of two things, sugar and slavery. These created an impact so strong that if we were to substitute labour for slavery we would find that sugar and labour are the two most emotional areas in Guyana.
Production in Guyana has always been geared for the metropolitan European and North American markets, hence local labour could not identify itself with final production and earnings. On account of this, trade unions of the day concentrated their fight on increased wages and salaries, but these were not in any way related to cost of living and standard of living. They were not sophisticated enough to identify or measure the gap between rich (Management) and poor (Workers). This meant that every increase the workers got resulted in the increase being passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices so that they were back to square one. The late Dr. Cheddi Jagan was a top class organiser and educator of the working people.
In the first place he allied himself with existing trade union organisers but found many of them unwilling to devote consistent and serious attention to hard work still. In his education of the working people, he demonstrated that they were entitled to understand, not merely their immediate problems, but the reasons for these problems. As such, he analysed for them the nature of Guyanese society, the role of the sugar industry and its connection locally and abroad. The fight then was to redress the imbalances that exist in conditions of work and percentage of salaries, wages etc. A very curious development is therefore developing with the Government of Guyana owning sugar industry undertakings. Should all profits accruing out of a particular industry return to benefit only those who work in the industry, or should some of it be used in promoting a better quality of life for all in the form of better roads, hospitals, schools and other services? In looking at this question, unions must turn their attention to workers participation in management. Whatever models are developed in solving this problem, the worker should not see himself as changing one boss for the other. In this attempt, a programme of trade union education must be re-launched for unionists at all levels to face the challenge.