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ANOTHER veteran trade unionist has died after having given yeoman service to the cause of justice for workers.
Mr. Maurice Drakes, of Fairs Rust, Mackenzie, passed away at the Linden Hospital Complex on November 20, after a brief illness.
Having complained of feeling unwell, he was admitted to the hospital and succumbed within a few days. Drakes, who hailed from Canje, Berbice, spent the greater part of his working life at Mackenzie and was a former General Secretary of the Guyana Mine Workers Union, Assistant Secretary, as well as First Assistant Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) and Administrative Manager of GUYMINE.
He was also past Secretary of the Human Resource Practitioners Association of Guyana.
General Secretary of the GTUC, Mr. Lincoln Lewis, who expressed shock on learning of Drakes’ death, extended profound sympathy on behalf of the umbrella body.
Lewis had been a personal friend of his and recalled that it was Drakes who influenced him to become active in trade unionism, with the result that he was, eventually, elected to the executive body of the trade union movement.
In a brief reflection on the life of the now dead trade union icon, Lewis recalled that Drakes was General Secretary for the Guyana Bauxite Supervisors’ Union, representing foremen and general foremen in the bauxite industry. He became affiliated with the union from its 1972 inception and served as General Secretary until 1981.
Drakes was a committee member of the GTUC in 1978 and, subsequently, Assistant Secretary and First Assistant Secretary in 1980.
On leaving the GTUC in 1981, he returned to LINMINE, the successor of GUYMINE, where he took up the position of Industrial Relations Manager and later Administrative Manager.
A graduate of Ruskin College in the United Kingdom where he majored in Industrial Relations, Drakes also did post-graduate studies in Human Resource Management at the University of Chicago in the United States (U.S.)
He ceased to function as GUYMINE’s Administrative Manager in 2001, after the bauxite industry at Linden was privatised and taken over by OMAI Gold Mines.
Drakes is survived by his children and other relatives.
Meanwhile, another trade union stalwart, attorney- at-law, Mr. Randolph Kirton, who died on Monday last was cremated at the Goed Hope Crematorium on Thursday.
Mr. Maurice Drakes, of Fairs Rust, Mackenzie, passed away at the Linden Hospital Complex on November 20, after a brief illness.
Having complained of feeling unwell, he was admitted to the hospital and succumbed within a few days. Drakes, who hailed from Canje, Berbice, spent the greater part of his working life at Mackenzie and was a former General Secretary of the Guyana Mine Workers Union, Assistant Secretary, as well as First Assistant Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) and Administrative Manager of GUYMINE.
He was also past Secretary of the Human Resource Practitioners Association of Guyana.
General Secretary of the GTUC, Mr. Lincoln Lewis, who expressed shock on learning of Drakes’ death, extended profound sympathy on behalf of the umbrella body.
Lewis had been a personal friend of his and recalled that it was Drakes who influenced him to become active in trade unionism, with the result that he was, eventually, elected to the executive body of the trade union movement.
In a brief reflection on the life of the now dead trade union icon, Lewis recalled that Drakes was General Secretary for the Guyana Bauxite Supervisors’ Union, representing foremen and general foremen in the bauxite industry. He became affiliated with the union from its 1972 inception and served as General Secretary until 1981.
Drakes was a committee member of the GTUC in 1978 and, subsequently, Assistant Secretary and First Assistant Secretary in 1980.
On leaving the GTUC in 1981, he returned to LINMINE, the successor of GUYMINE, where he took up the position of Industrial Relations Manager and later Administrative Manager.
A graduate of Ruskin College in the United Kingdom where he majored in Industrial Relations, Drakes also did post-graduate studies in Human Resource Management at the University of Chicago in the United States (U.S.)
He ceased to function as GUYMINE’s Administrative Manager in 2001, after the bauxite industry at Linden was privatised and taken over by OMAI Gold Mines.
Drakes is survived by his children and other relatives.
Meanwhile, another trade union stalwart, attorney- at-law, Mr. Randolph Kirton, who died on Monday last was cremated at the Goed Hope Crematorium on Thursday.
