CombatIssue#: 4 Volume#: 30 August, 2009Voice of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU)

WELCOME TO CONGRESS 2009

“Advancing Social Development through Greater Workers’ Democracy”

A LOOK AT PAST CONGRESSES

GAWU’s 18th Delegates’ Congress - 2006 GAWU’s 14th Delegates’ Congress - 1994 GAWU’s 16th Delegates’ Congress - 2000

GAWU’s 17th Delegates’ Congress - 2003 GAWU’s 14th Delegates’ Congress - 1994 GAWU’s 15th Delegates’ Congress - 1997

COMBAT: August, 2009 Page One

INSIDE: GAWU’s Emancipation Day Message, Congress Quiz, Messages to Congress and more

15th, 17th & 18th August, 2009

Whenever six hundred (600) members of any organization meet for 2½ days to de-liberate, exchange views, refine policies af-ter clarifying issues and then make impor-tant long-lasting decisions, that occasion

has to be ex-tremely signifi-cant and useful. When the gath-ering is planned, structured and an event such as the 19th Del-egates Congress of the Guyana A g r i c u l t u r a l and General Workers’ Union (GAWU), then the activity bor-ders on national s i g n i f i c a n c e . “Nation-al” because GAWU is Guy-

ana’s and the Region’s largest workers Bargaining Agent. “National” because GAWU represents thousands of work-ers in strategic sectors of Guyana’s econ-omy – in agriculture, forestry, fishery,

distillery and some clerical interests. But why a Congress every three years? GAWU members from all branches now know that Congress represents the highest forum of governance of the union, in keep-ing with the Constitution of the Union. Not to convene a Congress would be a breach of the Constitution and send a message that all is not well with the management, ac-countability and transparency of the unit of which they are thousands of financial members. So, in one fundamental sense, the convening of the Triennial Congress is proof that GAWU is a well-organised, accountable and democratic institution, which respects and adheres to its mem-bers’ constitutional rules and regulations. As is usually observed, the Congress is “the highest decision-making forum” of the union, in between all the other levels of representation – from workplace ses-sions through shop steward or branch meetings to General Council delibera-tions. Through Motions and Resolutions, all the union’s members, through their

representative delegates to Congress will have their contributions to the union’s development and well being considered and known. Through their Branches and groups, delegates are nominated to rep-resent members’ interests and concerns. Of course, Congress is also convened to review the work and progress made since it last met – in this case at Bath, West Coast Berbice, three years ago. Both Executive and grassroot membership grasp the op-portunity to assess how well they coped with the execution of the decisions taken, as well as how they, as union members and the nation’s employees fared dur-ing the three year period under review. Also, it is at Congress that the member-ship chooses those that would represent them on the 50 member General Council. Those reasons – and others – make Congress compulsory. It is a symbol of vibrant, re-sponsible trade union in democratic action.Combat wishes the 19th Del-egates’ Congress, every success!

COMBAT: August, 2009 Page Two

Why a Congress?

GAWU’s EMANCIPATION 2009 MESSAGE

AFTER EMANCIATION, WHAT? The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) salutes the country’s significant Afro-Guyanese community on the occasion of the 171st Anniversary of Emancipation. (We count from the 1st August 1838 when FULL FREEDOM from slavery was won).

It is not that the insidious system of the Middle Passage, Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade to British Colonies is not as im-portant as it was brutal and savage. It is not that the trans-planting of more than TWELVE MILLION African from West and Central Africa to the Caribbean and Guyana was not an example of man’s greatest inhumanity to man. And certainly, it is NOT that the dehumanized treatment of hundreds of thousands of slaves on Guyana’s planta-tions, their struggles and rebellions which culmi-nated in the abolition of the trade and, eventually com-plete Emancipation, are not worth of examination here.

GAWU, however, whilst paying tribute to the tri-umph that Emancipation brought to the freed people, wishes to focus, most brief-ly on two significant aspects of the CONSEQUENCES of Emancipation in 1838.

First, we repeat our agreement with the observation now often made: HAD THERE BEEN NO EMANCIPATION THERE (PROBABLY) WOULD HAVE BEEN NO ARRIVAL! The British, faced by their own internal social/economic circumstances, were forced to end both the trade and the system. But they needed to maintain their sugar industry which fed them their European wealth. So they turned to Portugal, to China, to the Caribbean and to INDIA for alter-native cheap labour.

To a great extent, they succeeded. As GAWU notes its own involvement in Guyana’s still vital sugar sector, it recognizing the historical role sugar played in being the dubious catalyst which resulted in the makeup of Guy-ana’s population today. That, surely, is a significant conse-quence of Emancipation.

Then there is the sterling-example of socio-economic organisation and development demonstrated and imple-mented by the emancipated men and women in the face of aggressive sabotage and de-stabilisation by the bitter, greedy plantocracy. Slave savings from the (1834-1838)

Apprenticeship period bought parts of plantation and other real estate and were developed into coast-al village system. Ex-slaves turned to their own agricul-ture; to limited commerce; to the trades and, later to the professions.

The history since then dictates that the contribu-tion to today’s Guyana by African descended Guya-nese can never be denied.

GAWU advances the view, over this week-end espe-

cially, that today’s Afro-Guyanese must use the historical PRIDE of their fore-fathers’ resilience, achievements and contributions to nation-building, to do some INTROSPEC-TION. GAWU respectfully suggests that that might include issues and questions about their community and political LEADERS and, perhaps most of all, WHAT CAN BE DONE TO PROMOTE A UNIFIED NATION where all groups work for the common good. Emancipation 1838, after all, had and has – implications for ALL of us.

Congress QUIZ

1. What was GAWU’s first official name prior to being the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU)?

2. How were the first Congresses described?

3. How often does the GAWU General Council meet?

4. Who was the Union’s President when GAWU was first recognized in the Sugar Industry in 1976?

5. In what year did Dr Cheddi Jagan cease being Honorary President of GAWU?

6. How many triennial Congresses have so far been held, before this one?

7. In what year was GAWU’s name changed to what it is now?

8. What is the difference between a motion and a resolution?

9. What was the Congress 2009 Guest Speaker born?

10. What’s really different about the Opening of this Congress 2009?

Answers in the next edition of COMBAT

COMBAT: August, 2009 Page Three

NOTES ON PORT MOURANT

INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL

Port Mourant is a significant place in the history of our country. It is the birthplace of the late President Dr. Ched-di Jagan, father of the Guyanese Nation. His parents were brought from India as indentured labourers to work on that Plantation.

It is also the birth place of a number of our great na-tional and international cricketers eg Rohan Kanhai, Joe Solomon, Alvin Kallicharran, Romain Etwaroo, Tyrone Et-waroo, Reginald Etwaroo.

Port Mourant itself has a long and checkered history of sugar cultivation and manufacture.

It got its name from its original owner, Englishman Ste-phen Mourant who owned Plantation Port Mourant from 1820.

The ownership changed over the years and in 1852 John Kingston acquired the Plantation. It remained within the Kingston family and it descendants for nearly a century.

In the 1870’s Port Mourant was described as “a fine block of lands.” At that time it comprised of 1,245 acres of cane lands and a further 2,284 acres of uncultivated lands at Tain, Clifton and Johns. (These were three (3) abandoned cotton estates which were subsequently acquired by Mr. Kingston and became part of an enlarged Port Mourant.

In the late 19th Century Plantation Port Mourant had a vast area of excellent savannah lands stretching for miles between the estate’s backdam and the Canjie River.

Mr. Kingston invested heavily in terms of establishing the necessary infrastructural works e.g. roads, dams, bridges, sea defenses, drainage and irrigational canals, etc.

In 1880 sugar output was approximately 100 hogsheads of sugar weekly and the quality of crystals was described as “second to none” Port Mourant was described as “the finest cane lands to be found in Guyana.”

In 1880 the owners of Port Mourant Estate received a Crown Land License to cut a waterpath to the Canjie River. This was testimony to the recognition that there was great potential of the unempoldered back lands in the area. The canal boosted sugar production.

In the late 19th Century Port Mourant was regarded as “one of the most salubrious places in which to reside” It was seen by the English as “a local Barbados to resort for a whiff of the pure Atlantic.”

Sugar output increased significantly as more lands cane under cultivation at the turn of the century. Average pro-duction in the 1880’s – 2,080 tons per crop.

In the 20th Century Albion-Port Mourant merged. By the end of the century Albion-Port Mourant sugar es-tate emerged as the largest sugar producing estate in the country and is still so today.

Port Mourant is also associated with education and training of our nation’s professionals and tradesmen. The Guysuco’s Port Mourant Training Centre was established in 1957. It is recognised according to Guysuco, as the best training centre scheme in Guyana and the Caribbean.

In 2000 the Berbice Campus of the University of Guyana was established at Tain part of Port Mourant Estate.

The AFL-CIO Executive Council, at its annual win-ter meeting in Miami Beach, Florida, adopted a reso-lution Thursday urging the Obama administration to temporarily nationalize failing banks. What is the sig-nificance of this policy statement? Does it represent a radical reorientation by the AFL-CIO, which, after all, has been throughout its history an implacable foe of socialism and defender of the profit system? It is nothing of the sort. There is not a trace of eco-nomic radicalism, or even independent thinking, in the statement of the labor bureaucrats. Rather, the AFL-CIO has merely joined a growing list of econo-mists and political figures from across the spectrum of American establishment politics advocating a tem-porary government takeover of banking giants such as Citigroup and Bank of America as a more effective means of utilizing taxpayer funds to bail out the finan-cial aristocracy and restabilize US capitalism. The union officials, like many others in the establish-ment, argue that a short-term government takeover is the best means of offloading the bad debts of the banks onto the public in order to return the banks to profitability and avert a full-scale collapse of the pri-vate banking system. The AFL-CIO resolution is a model of political evasion and outright dishonesty. It notes that the 1999 repeal of the Depression-era Glass-Steagall act has resulted in a “dramatic concentration of banking power,” with 43 percent of US bank assets held by just four institu-tions—Citigroup, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. The resolution does not mention that the repeal was endorsed by the Clinton administra-tion, with whom the AFL-CIO was allied at the time. Nor does the resolution demand the breakup of these corrupt institutions, or even the reestablishment of the sort of regulatory controls that were set in place by the Roosevelt administration. Declaring its loyalty to the “free market rules that workers live by,” the AFL-CIO’s resolution criticizes the current policy of the Obama administration in conventional economic terms. It warns against the administration’s policy of “feeding the banks public money in fits and starts” as leading to “zombie banks” and “long-term stagnation.” The resolution’s most significant passage asserts: “The most important goal of government support must be to get banks lending again by ensuring they are properly capitalized... In the case of distressed banks, this means the government will end up with a controlling share of common stock. The government should use that stake to force a cleanup of the banks’ balance sheets. The result should be banks that can either be turned over to the bondholders in exchange for bondholder concessions or sold back into the pub-lic markets.” There is absolutely nothing here that distinguishes the AFL-CIO from liberal bourgeois economists such as Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz or right-wing Re-publicans like former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Senator Lindsey Graham and James Bak-er, chief of staff and treasury secretary under Ronald Reagan and secretary of state under the senior George Bush, who have raised temporary nationalization of failing banks as an emergency measure required to prop up the banking system. The trade union bureaucracy intervenes not as an advocate of the working class, but rather as a sup-porter of one faction in the growing internal debate within the ruling class. Its class role and orientation

were underscored at the Executive Council meeting by its focus on the affairs and needs of the miniscule segment of the American people who derive their for-tunes from Wall Street. It passed two resolutions on the banking crisis, but had nothing to propose about halting the tidal wave of home foreclosures, restor-ing the savings and retirement accounts of millions of families, blocking plant closures and layoffs, or pro-viding serious relief for working people devastated by the impact of the economic crisis. The complacent functionaries basking in the Florida sun offered no proposals for government public works projects or any other measures to address the grow-ing social crisis. This comes as no surprise to millions of workers who have been abandoned and betrayed by the official unions and the servants of big business who control them. The absolute solidarity of the AFL-CIO with corpo-rate America was highlighted by the AFL-CIO’s tribute to Paul Volcker. “We commend President Obama,” de-clared the resolution on financial regulation, “for con-vening the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, chaired by former Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker, author of the G-30 report on global finan-cial regulation, and we look forward to working with Chairman Volcker in this vital area.” Volcker, as Fed chairman under Democratic Presi-dent Jimmy Carter and Republican President Ronald Reagan, was also the “author” of the deepest reces-sion, prior to the present crisis, since the 1930s. Vol-cker launched the three-decade ruling class offensive against the working class by jacking up interest rates to nearly 20 percent in 1979 in order to create mass unemployment and precipitate a wave of plant clo-sures. He played a central role in dismantling large sections of basic industry and diverting social re-sources into financial speculation, creating conditions for a vast enrichment of the ruling elite and an unprec-edented growth of social inequality. Volcker famously declared that the single greatest contribution of Reagan to quelling inflation in the US was his role in breaking the 1981 strike of the PATCO air traffic controllers. The very fact that the issue of nationalization has arisen testifies to the failure of the capitalist market system, which is unalterably defended by the union bureaucracy. All of the various schemes proposed to bail out the banks, including temporary nationaliza-tion, seek to make the working class pay for the break-down of the profit system. The question is: In whose interests is government control to be exercised, under whose control, and for what purpose? The crisis requires not a temporary government takeover to bail out the bankers, but a socialist poli-cy directed against the economic stranglehold of the financial aristocracy. What is required is the nation-alization of the banks without compensation to the big shareholders and bondholders, the transforma-tion of the banks and financial institutions into public utilities under the democratic control of the working class, and the redirection of financial policy to meet the needs of the people for good-paying jobs, housing, education, health care and a secure retirement, rather than the drive for profit and the accumulation of per-sonal wealth by a privileged few

BY: Barry Grey

The AFL-CIO and “nationalisation”

MESSAGES TO CONGRESSFrom the St. Kitts-Nevis Trades & Labour Union - St. Kitts

On behalf of the Executive Committee and Member-ship of the St. Kitts-Nevis Trades & Labour Union, allow me to extend Fraternal Greetings and Congratulations on GAWU’s 19th Delegates Congress, and another mile-stone in the life of your organization. We have noted with interest the theme for the Con-gress:- “Advancing Social Development through Greater Workers’ Democracy”, is most appropriate and quite timely, in view of the present enormous economic chal-lenges faced by the Global Workers’ Movement. We are aware of the severe financial problems being faced by Unions to confront, challenge and find ways to address issues of a Global nature, especially, in the face of the greatest Global Economic Recession since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. We are also sure that the Delegates to this the 19th Delegates Congress will strategize to adequately address these challenges. We would appreciate receiving information on your Delegates’ deliberations and decisions. It is my distinct pleasure on behalf of the St. Kitts-Nevis Trades & Labour Union to extend best wishes to the Delegates and Membership of GAWU on the occasion of your 19th Delegates Congress. Long live the Guyana Agriculture And General Work-ers’ Union.

Yours in Solidarity,Batumba TakGeneral Secretary

From Gewerkschaft Nahrung-Genuss-Gaststätten (NGG) - Germany

You gave us the opportunity to send you the warmest greetings of the German workers in the food and bev-erage industry as well as in the hotel- and restaurant branch for the 19th Congress of your union. The major challenges which you describe are similar around the globe. The challenges facing trade unions are the same in the developing countries as well as in the developed countries. We must work together to reject neo-liberal policies that destroy the fundament of life on earth. We agree that the social development depends from participation and securing the rights of trade unions, long-term success can´t be based without this democrat-ic development. Therefore, there is a common interest of trade unions all over the world to beat the neo-liberal policies. From our point of view, this is one of the major themes of unions at this time. We wish your conference every success and a lot of ef-forts to your organization’s success in developing the trade union movement in Guyana.

Yours in solidarityFranz-Josef MöllenbergChaiman

From the IUF Caribbean Regional Office - Barbados

The Caribbean Regional Office of the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Cater-ing, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF) is pleased to pen a message on the occasion of the 19th Delegates’ Congress of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU), while taking note of

the Conference theme “Advancing Social Development through Greater Workers’ Democracy”. The GAWU has the enviable reputation of being consis-tently in the forefront of Regional Trade Unions which stand up for the preservation of workers’ rights, espe-cially recognised in the current atmosphere where pro-gressive forces are insisting on the platform of Decent Work and the need to recognise and uphold the tenets of ILO Conventions 89 and 98. The serious issues facing the Sugar and Bananas In-dustries of the Caribbean Region have to be tackled and GAWU continues to be a leading light in the defence of the workers rights and the national rights in the struggle to have the EU take on a more humane face in dealing with issues which have serious and severe import for Ca-ribbean Economies. While recognising that “sugar is no longer king”, we recognise that it continues to be a significant contributor to employment and foreign exchange earnings for some countries, including Guyana. We congratulate GAWU on its successful defence of Trade Union Rights and look forward to the result of your Conference. Long live the Guyana Agricultural and General Work-ers’ Union (GAWU).

Fraternally,E. LeVere RichardsIUF Caribbean Regional Secretary

From the Waterfront & Allied Workers Union - Dom-nica

The Executive staff and membership of the Waterfront & Allied Workers Union extends fraternal greetings and profound best wishes to your Union on the occassion of your 19th Delegates’ Congress. We noted with interest the theme you have selected from your upcoming congress and we beleive that much thought went into the selection of it. In the theme there are many challenges to be addressed and we are confi-dent that the leadership and the delagates will do just that since we are sure that you have already identified the challenges with which your Union will be confront-ed. in advancing social democracy the GAWU will have to improve and increase such negotiated benefits as vacation leave, maternity leave, paternity leave, educa-tion leave, certified and uncertified sick leave, health & safety, gratuity, housing and uniforms to name a few. We are aware of the environment in which your Con-gress will be taking place and such will test your resolve to continue to deliver to your constitutent membership. it will be taking place when the full impact of the inter-national crisis will be felt in Guyana. This will have some consequences for the job security of your membership; a fundamental function of any Trade Union organisation. Again since the core of your membership is in the Sugar Industry, the trading relationship between Guyana and Europe will of necessity take centre stage since the loss of market share could mean job loss for your mem-bership. Again it bring to the fore the fundamental func-tion of your Union vis-a-vis your constituents. All of the foregoing we are sure will be addressed at your upcoming Congress. We wish your 19th Congrss ev-ery success and hope that tolerance for divergent view-points will be the hall mark of your deliberations.

FraternallyKertist AugustusGeneral Secretary

COMBAT is a publication of the Guyana Agricultural & General Workers Union (GAWU)59 High Street & Wight’s Lane, Kingston, Georgetown, Guyana, S.A.

Tel: 592-227-2091/2; 225-5321 Fax: 592-227-2093Email: gawu@bbgy.com Website: www.gawu.net

GAWU RAFFLE RESULTS

The Union recently held the drawing of the National Congress Raffle at its headquarters, 59 High Street and Wight’s Lane, Kingston and is pleased to advise supporters of the winning tickets:- Ticket#1st Prize – One Jailing Scooter 199832nd Prize – One 9.5 cu ft Refrigerator 71933rd Prize – Return Trip for two to Kaieteur 109944th Prize – One home theater system 58635th Prize – 20” Sharp Television 189716th Prize – One microwave over 16547th Prize – One mountain bicycle 181438th Prize – One cellular phone 82179th Prize – One blender 822010th Prize – One electronic iron 20028

Consolation Prizes:1. 11816 2. 139133. 13319 4. 12695. 1359 6. 13567. 8508 8. 79109. 10217 10. 1536311. 015 12. 1328113. 21122 14. 1728615. 14210 16. 1093617. 21720 18. 1905319. 12580 20. 16701

Dr FreekSchiphorst

Dr. Freek Schiphorst is a Dutch national and spe-cialist in the area of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment. He is Senior Lecturer and cur-rent Chairman of the Board of Examiners at the prestigious Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague, Holland. He has taught there for over 20 years and has teaching thousands of students from all regions of the world in labour and development. His areas of interest include, Organising the Work-ing Poor in the Informal Economy by trade unions, Industrial Anthropology & Labour Organisation, Global Production Systems, Trade Unions and La-bour Rights (incl. including the role of the ILO, Cor-porate Social Responsibility; etc), Participative Management, Employee Involvement and Labour Response and the Labour Movement in Zimbabwe. Dr Schiphost obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Social Antropology from the University of Amsterdam in 1977, a Doctorandus in Social Anthropology from the Univeristy of Amsterdam in 1982 and a Doctor in Social Sciences from Leiden University in 2001. Dr. Schiphorst currently teaches in the areas of la-bour and human resource management, qualitative methodology. Dr. Schiphorst has travelled extensively to Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe and pre-sented numerous academic papers to International Industrial Relations fora and trade union confed-erations. He is highly respected as a leading scholar, policy maker and advisor on labour and trade union-ism as a well as a friend of the labour movement.

MEET OUR GUEST SPEAKER