-Rohee warns against upmanship

CLEMENT Rohee, former General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party has said that the calls for the removal of Komal Chand as President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU) are misplaced, declaring that the union is not a political party nor a branch of the PPP.

He also said in a Facebook post that though the party and union are enjoined in the same fight, differences of a tactical and strategic nature can arise between those leading the struggle “but care must be taken to ensure that those differences do not result in upmanship of one over the other, since it will be taken advantage of by the enemy who in this case is the APNU+ AFC and who will waste no time in exploiting the seeming differences.”

Bharrat Jagdeo, the leader of the PPP on Saturday blasted Chand for hailing the meeting with government and the sugar union two Fridays ago as a success. “I have personal issues with these sorts of statements…if that is the case it means that all that has been done before didn’t make sense… how many times we have tried to engage this government and have been trying to ask for studies to be done,” he said. Although he was not pleased with what was said by the President of the union, the Opposition Leader said he does not have anything against an individual of the union. “What I can say is, we support the union, but I will not defend individuals… the workers are the ones who pay the dues, so the workers determine their leadership… they are free to elect [a] leader, that is not the PPP’s business,” said Jagdeo.

Rohee, seen as an ally of Chand, in his Facebook post last week said that the hullabaloo over the GAWU’s meeting with government has to do with whether the meeting should have taken place at all, and a claim that the union accepted at the meeting the offer by government in respect to payment of gratuity to sugar workers which the union represents. Rohee said on the first matter, the union in a statement issued said that after consultations with its leadership and members it was agreed that they should accept the invitation to meet that was extended by government. In respect to the second matter, Rohee said it is to be recalled that the Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan in introducing the Bill calling for the supplementary provision, made it very clear to the House that neither GAWU nor NAACIE accepted the offer made by government at the meeting concerning payment of gratuities to sugar workers. “In other words, both unions at the meeting rejected government’s offer.”

SPURIOUS CLAIMS
Rohee also alluded to a statement issued subsequently where GAWU made it clear that at the meeting the union did not accept the government’s offer. “Therefore to claim that GAWU ‘sold out the sugar workers’ by accepting government’s offer is not only spurious, it is without foundation and is essentially a fabrication. Since the decision was a collective one made at the top level of the union and not solely by Komal Chand then, the call for his resignation is misplaced and misdirected,” Rohee wrote.

“GAWU is not a political party nor is it a branch of the PPP. It is a bona fide registered trade union with many years of experience under its belt. It has fought many battles winning most of them,” the former Home Affairs Minister said. According to Rohee, in the current battle to keep the estates open GAWU has fought tooth and nail and it is still fighting the good fight.

He said as is to be expected, the PPP, the union’s political ally, joined in the fight and has done considerably well. Rohee said trade unions are there to represent their members. “They are well versed in industrial disputes and struggles for better wages and working conditions of its general membership. The political parties fight at the political level. There are times when the political and industrial struggles coincide. Under such conditions the coordination, collaboration and cooperation between the political parties and the trade union leaders is of utmost importance if the interests of the working class in particular, and the working people as a whole are to be protected and advanced.”

Rohee added that insofar as the closure of the sugar estates is concerned and the coincidence of the political and industrial merged, it became clear to the nation that the union and the party were enjoined in a common struggle. “The ruling elite were not comfortable with this solid unity of action and therefore began thrashing around to throw a spanner in the works. Was the invitation to the union for talks a means to do so? Did the union make a tactical mistake by accepting the invitation for talks with the government?’ Rohee questioned.

He said on many occasions the GAWU has been branded a political union and a branch of the PPP- something which he said the union can do pretty little about it being branded one way or another “but at the same time, it has to be careful that its membership, which comprises members and supporters of different political parties, as well as different shades of ethnicity do not perceive their union leaders to be fighting a political rather than an industrial battle on their behalf.” He said herein lies the complexity of the struggle in times like these when the political and industrial converge.