–PPP/C has played a fundamental role in workers’ rights, dignity
–President Ali says as GAWU commemorates 50th Anniversary
PRESIDENT Dr Irfaan Ali has reaffirmed the People’s Progressive Party/Civic’s (PPP/C) long‑standing commitment to workers’ rights, declaring that his government “did not waver” in defence of sugar, bauxite, and forestry workers during some of the most turbulent years in Guyana’s recent history.
He was on Thursday speaking at an event to mark the 50th anniversary of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) held under the theme, ‘Born of struggle, built for justice’.
From the outset, President Ali placed GAWU and the PPP/C at the heart of Guyana’s labour story.
“We can take nothing away from the fact that GAWU has struggled, and that GAWU is not only a union, it’s a way of life in the labour history of our country.”
He emphasised that the government has played “a foundational role” in the development of the labour movement and in the establishment of earlier industrial unions that eventually evolved into GAWU, pointing to the foundation laid by PPP’s Dr. Cheddi Jagan.
STANDING WITH WORKERS
Drawing a stark contrast between the 2015–2020 period and the years since the PPP/C returned to office, President Ali revisited the deep upheaval in the bauxite and sugar industries.
Between 2015 and 2020, he recalled, more than 600 jobs in bauxite were “destroyed directly”, with “hundreds of persons fired without notice” in Linden, Region 10.
Ali said that the then APNU+AFC administration had campaigned on expanding sugar and increasing wages but instead presided over “a history of destruction for sugar,” leaving workers abandoned and communities devastated.
In those years, he said, it was the PPP/C that stood with GAWU and the workers marching, protesting, organising hampers and providing basic necessities so families could enjoy a simple holiday.
“The People’s Progressive Party did not waver from that foundational role of standing with the workers,” he stressed, adding:
“We cannot speak about 50 years without speaking about the importance of jobs, the importance of livelihood, the importance of income, the importance of workers’ rights and the importance of the survival of industries, because the union cannot survive if industries do not survive, if jobs are not created, and if workers are not working.”
President Ali reminded workers that under the APNU+AFC, between 2015 and 2019, sugar workers received no wage increase at all, “not a cent” a fact he insisted must remain part of GAWU’s 50‑year history and collective memory.
President Ali detailed a series of measures taken immediately upon the PPP/C government’s return in 2020 to relieve hardship and restore confidence in the sugar industry.
These included five per cent retroactive payment to sugar workers and the reopening of the Rose Hall estate, with 1,600 workers rehired, bringing the total number of workers in the industry to 8,100.
The government has since committed tens of billions of dollars to keep the sugar industry alive.
GAWU’S ENDURING ROLE
President Ali also paid tribute to GAWU’s five decades of recognised representation and its origins in the mid‑20th‑century industrial struggles. He hailed the union as “much more than a union,” describing it as part of the “soul of Guyana” that has fought for freedom, dignity, and democracy.
He recalled that rights enjoyed by sugar workers today, “did not emerge overnight,” and were not the gift of benevolent forces, but the result of “decades of sacrifice and struggles” against denial, non‑recognition, and political hostility.
As GAWU celebrates its golden jubilee President Ali urged workers to defend the gains won over the last 50 years and to avoid being “misguided” into repeating the errors of the recent past.
“And even 50 years after you know the labour movement, you have a friend in the People’s Progressive Party government. You have a partner in the People’s Progressive Party government. You have a commitment to workers in the People’s Progressive Party/Civic government,” he said.
Looking ahead, he called for unity and partnership between the government, GAWU and sugar workers to ensure that the industry is rebuilt on a sustainable footing, that workers are empowered, and that rural communities anchored in sugar, bauxite and forestry can continue to thrive.
“There is still work to be done. There are still challenges to overcome, but there’s also reasons for hope with unity, with determination and with a shared vision, we can build an industry that is sustainable, a workforce that is empowered and a nation that is stronger.”
