…Canadian union: ‘This is about mobilisation’

SOME 120 sugar workers are to be trained in a so-called $6.5M industrial relations education project facilitated by Canadian private sector union, UNIFOR, and the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) to “force the political agenda” here.
Funds for the training are being provided by Unifor, the largest private sector union in Canada which has funded over 11,000 projects in 44 different countries. Its National President Jerry Dias in his address was clear as to what the training is really about.

He told the audience that with his Guyanese parentage and seeing the ongoing challenges in Guyana’s sugar industry, he was not going to let the opportunity to fight for economic stability slip by. “This is about mobilisation. This is about you speaking to our members [GAWU], this is about you speaking to the community, this is about mobilising within the community…the whole issue about training 125 coordinators or community activists, is really about how do we take back our country and how do we take back our jobs and that happens when you force the political agenda. That’s what happens when the labour movement is strong,” he said, adding later: “That’s what today is all about and that’s what this week is going to be about. It’s not allowing the government, the right wing government, the opportunity to shape the economy in their vision, which is all about capital and not about people.”

Despite Dias’ clear objective, President of GAWU, Komal Chand, said the workers will be trained in industrial relations laws such as the Severance Pay Act, Trade Union Recognition Act, health and safety issues as well as the representation of workers’ grievances and the collective labour agreements. Of the 120, 60 workers will be trained from the three operable estates, namely Uitvlugt, Albion and Blairmont. On Wednesday, the first batch of 30 workers began a one-week training at the union’s Labour College and will be expected to return in one year to report on assignments given. Another batch of 30 will receive training within a few weeks.

Meanwhile, 20 workers each from Rose Hall, Enmore and Skeldon will be trained when these estates, set aside for priviatisation, are re-opened.

Chand told the Guyana Chronicle at the launching that the workers are being called “organisers,” but Dias referred to them as “mobilised coordinators.” Chand says that the initiative ties in with GAWU’s mission as it will result in the education of workers; issues being solved at lower management levels and the deterrence of “strikes and bigger problems.”

“It’s all connected to us. It’s in sync with our educational work because we have been pursuing that, but we now see the new challenge that the sugar industry faces. One part of it will go back to private ownership, because our industry was nationalised in 1976 and part will remain in the hands of the state, those are the three operable estates. We have new challenges to find ways and means for the industry to sustain itself and to become profitable again…[the workers] were very glad that we would have approached them,” Chand said.

Remarks also came from Vice-president of the University and Allied Workers Union (UAWU) of Jamaica, Clifton Grant; General Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union congress, Lincoln Lewis and others. They all encouraged the workers to make use of the training to ensure that change takes place for the benefit of the common man, while the rights of workers are respected and protected.

Chand expressed the union’s appreciation to the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) for considerations made regarding the absence of the sugar workers undergoing the training. He stated: “We must also express our thanks to GuySuCo, because the [workers] who will come to the course have been given permission to be absent from work and they’re being paid, so that they will not lose income which they can hardly afford to lose at this time.”