THE trade union community will today begin its week-long commemoration activities with a morning church service and afternoon wreath-laying event, and will culminate same in a Labour Day march and rally on Sunday, 1st May. 

While the genesis of May Day, which in Guyana is referred to as Labour Day, is rooted in the May 4th, 1886 Haymarket Square riot in Chicago, when workers striking for an 8-hour work day were shot and killed by police, Guyana, though joining the global community to mark the event, has added its local twist.

As a nation whose first peoples, the Amerindians, fought against the exploitative system of slavery; followed by our African community, and the Indians, Chinese and Portuguese who fought against indentureship; and later all, including Europeans, against colonialism; all can identify with the cause that gave rise and meaning to the Labour Movement.

Historians will recount numerous instances of workers, though not formally organised, standing up against what they considered poor conditions under which they worked and the less-than-adequate sums paid for their labour. Historical evidence recounts workers, be they enslaved, indentured, colonised or free, resisting poor working and living conditions and high cost of living.

In the 20th century, where the trade union movement has it genesis as a formal organising mass and taking up the workers’ cause as we come to know it, the understanding of the workers’ movement has come to be accepted through these lenses.

In 1905, when the 21-year-old Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow led stevedore workers in a strike at the John Fernandes Wharf, the first act of mass mobilisation was registered. Apart from putting Guyana on the map as the birthplace of the Father of Trade Unionism in the British Commonwealth, Critchlow went on to lead causes in the interest of the workers, in and outside of the workplace. He, along with other Caribbean Labour Leaders, is credited for putting in place the framework that helped to shape the struggle of the Caribbean peoples for the advancement of their social, cultural, political and economic wellbeing. This included the utility paid to international self-government and regional integration as important pillars in development.

And whereas regional integration was first achieved with the West Indian Federation, the Caribbean Free Trade Agreement to the Caribbean Community, (CARICOM) established in 1973, still stands today as a marked achievement of the workers’ movement.

Self-government, hinged on first establishing the right to one-man one-vote, wherein every eligible citizen is given the right to exercise the choice of electing his/her representative, is owed to the trade union movement.

And where there exists doubt about the ability of Guyanese to work harmoniously with each other, the trade union movement has shown that this is possible.

After the March 1926 meeting of Caribbean Labour leaders, in which Critchlow participated, history has shown that, in December 1926, Critchlow met with the then British Guiana East Indian Association to discuss how Indians can get involved in the political process of voting.
Once called the African Crosby by Indian sugar workers, who likened him to an immigrant agent that represented their interests, he helped in giving direction and support to the struggle to improve living and working conditions on the estates.

When sugar workers deferred to trade unionist Ayube Edun, being their leader of choice, this decision was respected.

The workers’ movement has a storied and complex legacy in this nation’s history. It is one that has played a sterling role in building this country, and includes the fight for equality, universal free healthcare and education, childcare, fair treatment by landlord, housing development, decent pay and working conditions, minimum wage, and paid leave, among other things.

At the internal level, there have been differences between unions that have seen breakaway, disbanding of the original Guyana Trades Union Congress, formation of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana, its later disbandment, and formation of another. It is not unfair to say the movement has always had an attraction for politicians, who find it a ready institution with mobilised and militant workers/citizens, and also used it as front to serve or reinforce political agenda.

That aside, given the existence of laws, notably the Constitution which specifically addresses the right to join a trade union of choice to represent one’s interests (Article 147), the involvement of the trade union in the management and decision-making processes of the State (Article 149C) and its duty to help in the development of the economy (Article 38), the presence of the workers and their organisation will be felt and known.