AS a Guyanese, and as one who always admired the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), for their sacrifices in the cause of freedom from the British and the Burnhamite regime, I am quite surprised at the shenanigans of GAWU’s leadership, which make them look anti-national, and even anti-patriotic.
As a child and later as a teenager and high school student, I witnessed the harassment, beatings and jailings by agents of the Burnhamite era of the leadership and membership of the union. I wish in fairness to state also that I knew of people who would burn cane fields in that vicious and sad era, burning cane fields wrongfully, and without instructions, thinking they were helping GAWU or the then Leader of the Opposition, Dr. Cheddi B. Jagan, and the Peoples Progressive Party.  These wildcatters were operating as renegades and not part of the GAWU or the Peoples Progressive Party.  If they had an official agenda to this, I could not have been privy to the information as I was too young, and not a member of any of the organisations.  But I stand by the fact that I knew some people were renegade saboteurs (as I call them).  A neighbour of mine in Kingston, Corriverton, who was a worker of Bookers and then GUYSUCO, actually fired sugar canes. Others did as well. Always being principled, though young, I disagreed with the act because it was not good for the country, the canes were not ready. I would know, because as any child in the sugar belt, we would swim in the canals and help ourselves, albeit hiding of course, eating and enjoying, those canes were not sweet and tasty. At this time, there were strikes, I recall the big sugar strike in the 60’s.  I was a little boy then.  Looking, listening and learning.
Today, I wish to state that respect and honour for GAWU is turning into disrespect and even annoyance, not at the membership, but the leadership. It is my opinion that they are misleading their membership, even at the wrong times, which definitely affect their lives, especially at the holiday season.
I find it obnoxious, and annoying that GAWU would call its membership to strike in late November and early December, knowing that Christmas is at hand, and the membership like to sport and drink and live it up at this time.  They were culturised to this, and to call this strike was irresponsible and most annoying. I ask the government to study the minds of the leadership of GAWU.  What do they want?  What is the intention? Where they wish to go? What do they wish to achieve?
Of course calling these strikes was most irresponsible, and, which, definitely would have affected the life of the workers, and affected indirectly and directly, the entire nation and the sugar corporation, GUYSUCO.  This was a time when GUYSUCO was getting a better price for its sugar ($60EU more per ton according to GUYSUCO), and so it would have helped to be more economically viable, though not much.
Then, GAWU is making itself look more like an opposition engine, always condemning the factory at Corriverton/Skeldon. Yes, it is known that the factory has a major problem. Instead of making it annoying, condemning, criticising over and over, it is best at this juncture to work with the GUYSUCO management and the government to solve and fix the problems. The entire project cannot be placed on fire, or made into scrap iron.  It has to be fixed.  Stop quarrelling like a spoilt child, GAWU, throwing tantrums, and affecting your membership and their lives with useless and nonsensical strikes for money, which is not there.
Remember that ‘sugar prices,’ sadly, is not set by the manufacturers. I find it illogical and annoying for the consuming nations and their stock market to dictate the price of Third World minerals and resources, but such is the affairs as it is at this time in the world.  Sugar prices are not the best.  So fighting and destroying the nation, making yourselves look unpatriotic, annoying GUYSUCO and the government and affecting our economy is not the way to go. Use the grey matter, work with management, and teach your membership the truth. Do not demand money that is just not there. Let them know the economic state of the corporation and who is responsible. They need to know that it is the former Slavers (the Europeans) who set the price of sugar, not GUYSUCO or Guyana’s government. Let them know it is the former masters of indentured servants (the Europeans), who set the price of sugar.
Then there is the Low Carbon Development Strategy of President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo.  Here, in my opinion, our President and government, and countries like us are made into the developed world’s hungry poodle.  This is an excellent technique, which in time will bear the dividends, and some Guyanese actually hope our President would fail on it, for political purposes and their ambitions, and be unable to draw down compensation due to us.  But that money is supposed to help our country and our people. Some of that could help to subsidise sugar workers, and others, raising our standard of living generally, especially for our Amerindians, whose lands were stolen by the European Conquistadores, made into slaves, and sex-slaves.
The Europeans destroyed their forests, polluted their nations, enslaved nations, and killed millions (if not billions), overthrew nations, underdeveloped nations, murdered and assassinated Heads of State.  Hence, are we to expect that these people will make life easy for us?  They will help in small projects maybe because of guilt for generations of genocide, slavery and underdevelopment.
So people of Guyana, what are these people doing? They want us to tell them what we will do with our money for services we are providing. To me this is most ludicrous, a declaration of the absolute preponderance of ludicrousness and definite stupidity. They still want to dictate our lives; they cannot take it that we deserve to be paid, and they have to pay as they agreed to pay, but nonsensically demand that we tell them how we will spend the money, and when told, they still make it difficult, and set conditions to make our lives difficult and to embarrass our President and our government.
Workers of GUYSUCO, members of GAWU, leadership of GAWU, Guyanese people, and those with political ambitions, note well.  No new political entity or person can have any magic to solve the problems. None!  Those in opposition always think they can solve the problems overnight.  They forget we still have the Guyanese population, what they have become – the chutneyised, the dishonest, and the manipulative, that we have to contend with in this country. The self-help, and ‘help selfers’ of the 70’s 80’s and 90’s.  The same people have to be workers, managers, middle management, and so on and so on.  Will the politically ambitious bring people from outer space to end the problems we have? There is no nation anywhere without problems. Wake up people and smell the coffee.