Today we once again celebrate Labour Day or, as some call it, May Day – the workers’ day. However, in Guyana it will be observed unfortunately for yet another year with a divided labour movement.
That is not to say that the local trade union movement does not have a rich and positive history. On the contrary, many of our unions have had  glorious and proud histories of struggle, while others have been characterised by  reactionary histories. It is this historical contradiction that led to the split in the labour movement, but perhaps the struggle by the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) to replace the now defunct Manpower Citizens Association (MPCA) as the workers’ union in the sugar industry, has had the greatest impact and influence on the unity of the labour movement. The MPCA, led by its reactionary president, the late and infamous Richard Ishmael, was a company union which naturally sided with Booker Tate, the owner of the sugar industry up to 1975 when it was nationalised. Of course, the MPCA never had the support of the sugar workers, but nevertheless was the officially recognised union of the sugar workers and so GAWU had to wage a nearly three-decade struggle before it was finally recognised in 1975 after the then Labour Minister, Winslow Carrington, ordered a poll in the sugar industry to determine the workers’ choice. GAWU won overwhelmingly with almost 98% of the workers voting for it. This brought an end to an epic struggle. In this period, there were unions whose ideologies and objectives were similar to that of the MPCA so they became natural bedfellows, while the progressive unions became natural allies. So it was an obvious square-off. What is worthy of note is that the action by Carrington brought an end to his political career.  However, interconnected and intertwined with this scenario was the crucial issue of the Labour Relations Bill which the then People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government introduced in the early 1960s and which, if it had been passed, would have ended the issue of recognition of GAWU and wherever union rivalry existed at the time. Unfortunately, this progressive piece of legislation was turned into a political football and used to create terror and mayhem in a move to unseat the PPP government. Even though the late Dr. Cheddi Jagan, who was premier at the time, took pains to explain that there was nothing sinister or communist about the proposed Labour Relations Bill as all it sought to do was to ensure that workers are represented by a bargaining agent of their choice; and in fact, the proposed legislation was patterned after an American which became known as the Wagner Act, his political opponents persisted with the use of the proposed legislation as the ‘Trojan Horse’ to advance their political agenda. In fact, the then Opposition Leader, L.F.S Burnham, was very blunt on the issue stating that the Bill was not the cause for the war but rather the occasion for it. It was not until the PPP was returned to government that the Bill re-surfaced and was re-introduced in the National Assembly and passed in 1996. However, it is most ironic that GAWU, the single largest union in Guyana and the English-speaking Caribbean has never held the presidency of the umbrella trade union body, the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC). The reason for this is that delegates to the GTUC are not determined on a proportional basis, so smaller unions, when combined, end up with more representatives than the larger ones such as GAWU. In addition, the GTUC is stacked with a large number of ‘paper unions’. The resolution of the issue of proportional representation is perhaps the key towards the unity of the labour movement, but despite several attempts to do so, including mediation efforts by the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL), it has still remained a contentious one because a few trade union leaders, out of outright opportunism, want to maintain their status quo so as to enjoy the perks and privileges that accompany the leadership of the trade union movement. So today, for yet another year, workers unfortunately will march separate ways, which undermines true workers’ solidarity and unity.