Combat julyaug14 by GAWU

Issue#4 Volume#: 35

Combat Voice of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU)

No Confidence? In Whom? As Combat’s editorial team contemplates issues to highlight for reflection, just what does it look for as worthy of our wide readership’s consideration?

July/August, 2014

Stop the sugar industry decline!

Naturally, there are issues close to the membership of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) foremost. Then there are issues deemed to be of “national significance”, hopes and aspirational – of importance to and affecting the whole nation. In many instances, both sets of issues co-incide. What besets us today, good news, bad tidings? Who promotes, perpetuates specific things, and why? Combat now identifies the Opposition’s No-Confidence vote and looming elections; the challenged sugar industry; and the country-wide clean-up of villages and towns. Eschewing political affiliation in an effort to be objective, we must ask; what are the Constitutional consequences of a successful Motion of No Confidence against the elected Government when passed by the Assembly? Simply, constitutionally, there must be National Elections within three (3) months after the passage of the Motion, which is to be followed by the dissolution of Parliament by the President. If, as many assume, the ruling PPP/C, through Head of State President Ramotar, decides to by-pass the submitted Motion and dissolve Parliament on its own conditions, the result would also be National Elections. Combat notes with concern that the Opposition’s approach means the following: That the PPP/C’s elected five (5) year tenure, with all its proposed/projected national development programmes, has been severely truncated – simply cut short at the expense of promising budgeted plans for the development of citizens; (how fair is this?). The Motion has also sabotaged all efforts at negotiated agreements between government, opposition, and other political and civil society forces. It reveals ambitions and agenda for political power which necessitates spending of massive funds by all contenders, which finance could have been channeled to more needed productive enterprises for Guyana. It might even signal to some an opportunity for promoting divisions, which won’t necessarily assure even the Opposition of a different outcome to 2011. Combat leaves readers and workers to judge just who are the architects of this electoral intervention against smooth, seamless national development. Citizens must also decide, once and for all, how their votes will impact their very future. Continued on back page COMBAT: July/August, 2014

The Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc (GuySuCo) has commenced the harvesting of it second crop from midJuly this year. As at week ending August 30, 2014, Rose Hall and Blairmont Estates operated for seven (7) weeks; Wales Estate for six (6) weeks; Enmore Estate for five (5) weeks; and Skeldon, Albion and, Uitvlugt Estates for four (4) weeks. The aggregate production was only 28,771 tonnes sugar. Should the second crop conclude on week ending October 31, 2014 as per schedule, the industry will be far from attaining the crop’s target of 139,050 tonnes. The industry just cannot produce the remainder of sugar of 110,279 tonnes in the months of September and October (nine (9) grinding weeks). The crop, we suppose, will have to be extended to about the third week in December, 2014. GuySuCo targeted itself to produce the quantum of 219,050 tonnes sugar, which is significantly below the production figure of 250,986 tonnes stated in the Corporation’s 2013 – 2017 Strategic Plan which was released in July, 2013. In the first crop of this year, the industry produced 79,995 tonnes sugar. Irregular work attendance by cane cutters in the industry must be seen within the context of their inability to earn their expected days’ pay. Poor cane yields are discouraging and frustrating them, since their normal tasks work is not yielding the expected tonnage of canes. It is not commonplace to have yields as low as 30 per

cent in weight. Recently, at one of the major estates, a gang of workers (about 200) struck for four (4) days because the task of five (5) worker crew was yielding just about four (4) tonnes of cane rather than about thirteen (13) tonnes cane. On most occasions, five (5) cane cutters are allotted a task for the day. If the yield per worker is not about 2.5 tonnes cane, it is not encouraging for them to be engaged in cane cutting. Poor cane yields are chiefly attributed to questionable land preparation, late and adequate application of fertilizers, poor control of weeds between growing canes, and an accumulation of water on cane fields which keeps soaking the cane roots causing dead stools or poor cane growth. GuySuCo must return to those practices which used to result in appreciable cane yields. Certainly, such practices are not unknown. We feel they can be implemented in a pragmatic and sequenced manner to bring about the changes desired to foster a recovery. GuySuCo would also immediately need an adequate injection of capital to put right its infrastructure and capitalisation, a competent and knowledgeable body at the hierarchal level of management, and a competent staff at the senior level to arrest the declining and dangerous trend of the sugar industry. Page One

Workers lament situation at Uitvlugt Estate

A field with poor germination

A number of workers from Uitvlugt Estate, having read a letter published in the May/June, 2014 Combat titled “No wonder sugar production remains poor”, were prompted to inform our newspaper about another relative situation at their estate. They related that, earlier this year, the Estate planted cane tops semi-mechanically in a number of fields in the cultivation covering an area of approximately 300 hectares. Weeks after the planting exercise, it was found that germination was as low as twenty-five (25) per cent, because there the soil was not soaked enough, and the fact that irrigation of the fields was not done after the completion of the planting exercise to assist in boost-

ing of the germination process. To remedy the sad situation, there were two possibilities:- replanting fresh cane tops, or engage in supplying, an exercise of planting new cane plants in the place of the dead stools. It took months for the Estate to finally approve the replanting of the fields, which is less costly, and such decision was made after constant criticism by workers. Had it not been for the vigilance of the workers, those fields would have produced extremely poor yields at the time of harvest. Another situation that explains why the Corporation’s yields per hectare are low and below expectation.

GAWU on the new GuySuCo Board

Workers Union (GAWU), as the union representing the overwhelming majority of sugar workers, feels compelled that it must welcome the two (2) new members of the Board, as it hereby does, and wishes the Board success in itsmost complex and New members of the GuySuCo Board LEFT: Shaik Baksh, daunting task in Chairman, and RIGHT: Dunstan Barrow seeking to turn the industry’s fortunes The Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc around, given the present dispensation. (GuySuCo) has a new Board of Directors, as follows:- Shaik Baksh as Chairman, Dunstan Barrow, Dr Dindyal Permaul, Keith Burrowes, Badri Persaud and Geeta Singh-Knight. Current CEO, Dr Raj Singh, sits on the board as an exofficio member. The new faces are the Chairman and Dunstan Barrow.

GAWU has and would have, no difficulty to serve on GuySuCo’s Board if it had been given an opportunity to name a representative, but it objects to having its Chief Negotiator, its President, Cde Komal Chand, to serve on the Board at this point in time.

The Guyana Agricultural and General

Workers at Amazon Caribbean are newest bargaining unit

Cane planting rates adjusted

The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc (GuySuCo) ,on August 12, 2014, ended negotiations with a new agreement with respect to manual planting of cane fields which are kept under water (flood fallow) for six (6) months and those under water for shorter intervals.

For planting a three (3) rod bank i.e. placing eighteen (18) two (2) eye cane tops in flood fallowed fields of six (6) months, the rate was $101.34 per rod; while for planting flood fallowed fields of less than six (6) months, the rate was $123.99 Both rates are now pegged at the higher level of $123.99 per rod.

DTL Security Guards join GAWU The bargaining unit of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) comprising the workers of the Demerara Timbers Limited (DTL) has been enlarged by sixteen (16) security guards who were not previously unionised. The Security Guards have been impressed with the bargaining gains of the GAWU, which keeps improving the pay rates and working conditions of the Company’s workers. The Trade Union Recognition and Certification Board (TURCB), which considCOMBAT: July/August, 2014

ered GAWU’s application to become the bargaining agent of the security personnel, was satisfied that the Union enjoys one hundred per cent (100%) support of the new Union members, and therefore approved the Union’s application through the recent issue of the Certificate of Registration, which is the legal authority of the Union deemed the bargaining agent of the guards. GAWU officials and the security personnel are to meet shortly to address matters which the Union will represent on their behalf to the Company.

Heart of Palm

Forty two (42) workers employed by Amazon Caribbean Guyana Limited at Rosignol, West Coast Berbice constitute the newest bargaining unit of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU). The Trade Union Recognition and Certification Board (TURCB), on July 29, 2014, approved the Certification which gives GAWU the legal authority to represent the workforce of the Company. Amazon Caribbean Guyana Limited is engaged in the processing and canning of Heart of Palm for export mainly to Europe. The Company has been processing and exporting Heart of Palm since 1986, and became organically certified in 1998.

The Union’s General Secretary, Cde Seepaul Narine, and other officers of the Union met with some of the Company’s workers at Rosignol, West Coast Berbice on August 27, 2014. The Union’s recognition was explained to the workers, who briefed the Union of their conditions of work and pay levels. The Union and the Company are to meet soon to decide on time-frame to approve a formal Recognition Agreement which will outline the procedural relationship between the Company and the Union, together with the workers. Later, the parties will negotiate a Collective Labour Agreement. Page Two

Advancing Workers’ Interest for Future Development

Continued from last edition Sugar Industry The turnaround of the industry lies in the workers and management hands in the final analysis. A Board of Directors at the time when leadership is needed becomes urgent, and we urge the authorities not to delay on this. Though aggrieved over several matters, GAWU is facing the future of sugar with optimism. Several indicators, we are told, show that a silver lining is already beginning to appear. We are certainly overjoyed if this is so, and with our collective efforts, hopefully, we can dispel, finally and totally, the dark clouds hovering over the industry in these recent years. Local Situation Comrades, sugar has brought home starkly that developments and their sustenance pose many challenges. Our region’s realities provide ample evidence of this also. Over the past two (2) decades, Guyana has astutely tread the path of economic development and growth, and we have seen benefits in wage increases in the social sectors, infrastructure, better governance, improvements in the quality of life, and other accomplishments. But as we measure our successes, we must also bear in mind that there are always many issues demanding attention and resolution. Critical questions must yet be addressed if we are to take a place alongside the developed countries of the world. While some issues, like the holding of local government elections, long overdue, may be easily addressed, and which we hope will soon be, there are issues with far-reaching implications which will require, I am sure, more profound considerations and wide consultations. Clearly, there remains a great deal that must be done along the road to greater progress and prosperity. And, the national institution that we look up to for the relevant leadership and initiatives is our Parliament and its members. Budget 2014 But, once again, there is a feeling that our people and country have been shortCOMBAT: July/August, 2014

changed by the results stemming from the 2014 Budget considerations. The debate was generally good, but, for the third consecutive year, the results were not. On one hand the government presented the biggest budget ever; on the other hand, the combined opposition made the biggest cut ever – some G$37.4B. Jobs, development projects, expansion of services, Amerindian and interior development projects are likely to go down the drain, as in 2012, as in 2013. So comrades, how is Guyana to go forward? What informs this urge to halt our development and thwart efforts to blaze a trail for a better future for our people and youth? If our Parliamentary gladiators want to give our nation a spectacle when Budget time comes around, they should know that the working people are certainly not amused. We do not want to stagnate economically, and we do not want to suffocate by sterile excuses and hollow explanations for putting a brake on the wheels of progress. Exploitation of Natural Resources Similarly, we must call attention to the management of our national patrimony, especially of our non-renewable resources in our mining sector, as well as our land and forest resources. In this respect, an article by the General Secretary of the Union of South American States (UNASUR), Ali Rodriguez Araque, an organization to which Guyana belongs, is instructive. Writing on Natural Resources a couple of weeks ago, he stated:“It is a sad irony that in the midst of this immense wealth, one hundred and thirty million South Americans live in a state of poverty; and among these, over sixty million in a situation of critical poverty. Meanwhile, the lion’s share of much of the exploitation of resources is being taken away by huge global corporations that employ the same strategy and wield planetary control.” Comrades, we still have poverty in our country, and we have the resources that can go towards its eradication as well as to attend to the improvements of the life of Guyanese, and also to contribute to the

country’s development. Let us tread this path regarding our resources with care. Let us pay attention to our economic sovereignty. Let us ensure that we have relevant safeguards, that we receive optimum returns, that there is transparency even as we seek to stimulate investment in these sectors. Trade Union Unity Comrades, unity at the Trade Union level continues to elude us. We well recognize that unity among workers and their unions is essential to confront the challenges facing the working class in our country. Therefore, it is with great concern that I note that our two trade union centers – the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) and the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG), have not been able to reconcile their differences. The GAWU is fully supportive of a united Trade Union movement, and would like to see one Trade Union centre speaking with one voice on behalf of the workers of Guyana. We contend that if this cannot materialize then there should be established a Council or Committee comprising representatives of both FITUG and the GTUC to provide an opportunity for collaboration between the two bodies and thus their affiliates. However, we remain hopeful that unity can be forged. Our division can only serve those who are enriched by the work done by workers. Unity, as history shows over and over again, serves the working class. We are committed to press for our unity, which will certainly lift morale and strengthen our struggles for all-round development. There are many concerns before us which require our voice and influence. There is, for instance, a much-needed tax reform, and there is the question of growing inequality as measured by income and other factors. There is a crying need to assess where privatization is taking us now that we see the grim realities in Europe and North America particularly. Too many painful stories are heard from our Health Sector – private and public – in as much as advances have been made, and an assessment should be gone into. These are but some of our present concerns which

we believe need to be addressed. Conclusion Comrades, May Day 2014 has come with a mixture of good and bad news. The air is filled with loose talk, but one thing is certain; the working peoples’ struggles in defence of their interests must go on, and we must not allow our present unity to be undermined. Our class feelings and solidarity compel us to condemn forcefully those who are snatching food from the mouths of our fellow workers and destroying their livelihood, whatever category they belong to. At the same time, whatever other criticisms one may have, we must acknowledge and recognise the present government’s passionate defence of these sectors of the working class who may now be affected, and the development programmes they have initiated. The recent developments in our nation are telling. They tell us that new challenges are appearing in our path. We must be ready to face up to them. At this time we see the need for our working people to stand unitedly. We must be ever vigilant, as the confidence tricksters and fraudsters still lurk in the shadows, waiting for opportunities to fulfill their political agenda and ambitions. As we celebrate May Day this year, let us bear in mind that there are two main threats to our planet and civilization. These are a third imperialist-instigated World War and an ecological catastrophe further affecting climate change. We hold the view that all national leaders and governments, weak or strong, and all peoples, no matter how small, must take a stand and work to avoid this occurrence. This is a demand of our times; this is humanity’s call to us. On this May Day, GAWU sends out militant greetings to all workers and working people of Guyana and their genuine representatives. We express our solidarity to our own working people and the working and oppressed peoples the world over in their struggles against wars and a capitalist order, and for bread, justice, peace, democracy, independent development and progress. Page Three

‘Severe... Pervasive... Irreversible”: IPCC’s Devastating Climate Change Conclusions

by Jon Queally Climate change is here. Climate change is now. Climate change will be significantly more dangerous, deadly, and expensive if nothing is done to correct humanity’s course; but aspects of future shifts are probably already irreversible. That’s the assessment of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which has sent world governments a draft of its final “Synthesis Report” which seeks to tie together previous reports the panel has released over the last year, and offers a stark assessment of the perilous future the planet and humanity face due to global warming and climate change. Based on a clear and overwhelming consensus among the world’s leading scientists, the draft says, failure to adequately acknowledge and act on previous warnings has put the planet on a path where “severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts” of human-caused climate change will surely be felt in the decades to come. In a clear statement regarding the dangers of continued inaction, the draft report declares: “The risk of abrupt and irreversible change increases as the magnitude of the warming increases.” Obtained by several media outlets—including the Associated Press, the New York Times, and Bloomberg—the draft includes not new information per se, but employs stronger language and contains a more urgent warning than the previous reports from the IPCC, which it attempts to synthesize and summarize. Asked for his reaction to the draft, Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann wrote this to the AP in an email: “The report tells us once again what we know with a greater degree of certainty: that climate change is real, it is caused by us, and it is already causing substantial damage to us and our environment. If there is one take home point of this report it is this: We have to act now.” COMBAT: July/August, 2014

As IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri explained in a statement, the last report—which still faces a final review, editing, and approval process—is designed to integrate “the findings of the three working group contributions to the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report and two special reports” and “provide policymakers with a scientific foundation to tackle the challenge of climate change.” Taken together, the IPCC reports and their recommendations are designed to help governments and other stakeholders work together at various levels, including a new international agreement to limit climate change, he said. According to the Associated Press, which reviewed the 127-page document, the IPCC draft paints a harsh warning of what’s causing global warming and what it will do to humans and the environment. It also describes what can be done about it. “Continued emission of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and long-lasting changes in all components of the climate system, increasing the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems,” the report says. The final report will be issued after governments and scientists go over the draft line by line in an October conference in Copenhagen. Depending on circumstances and values, “currently observed impacts might already be considered dangerous,” the report says. It mentions extreme weather and rising sea levels, such as heat waves, flooding and droughts. It even raises, as an earlier report did, the idea that climate change will worsen violent conflicts and refugee problems, and could hinder efforts to grow more food. And ocean acidification, which comes from the added carbon absorbed by oceans, will harm marine life, it says. Without changes in greenhouse gas emissions, “climate change risks are likely to be high or very high by the end of the 21st

century,” the report says. And the New York Times noted:Using blunter, more forceful language than the reports that underpin it, the new draft highlights the urgency of the risks that are likely to be intensified by continued emissions of heat-trapping gases, primarily carbon dioxide released by the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas. The report found that companies and governments had identified reserves of these fuels at least four times larger than could safely be burned if global warming is to be kept to a tolerable level. That means if society wants to limit the risks to future generations, it must find the discipline to leave a vast majority of these valuable fuels in the ground, the report said. It cited rising political efforts around the world on climate change, including efforts to limit emissions as well as to adapt to changes that have become inevitable. But the report found that these efforts were being overwhelmed by construction of facilities like new coal-burning power plants that will lock in high emissions for decades. From 1970 to 2000, global emissions of greenhouse gases grew at 1.3 percent a year. But from 2000 to 2010, that rate jumped to 2.2 percent a year, the report found, and the pace seems to be accelerat-

ing further in this decade. The IPCC draft will not be finalized until after governments have a chance to weigh in on the report, and following a meeting in Copenhagen slated for late October. In September, the United Nations is hosting its next international climate summit in New York City, and climate campaigners are hoping to capitalize on the meeting by planning what they are calling the “People’s Climate March” during the same week, as a way to apply pressure on world governments to finally act on the issue. If nothing else, the leaked IPCC draft report will serve to galvanize and add weight to the climate justice movement, which has consistently demanded that world leaders respond to the crisis with action not words. As David Turnbull, director of campaigns for the group Oil Change International, which is signed-on to support the New York march, said recently: “Politicians have come together too many times with nothing more than rhetoric and empty promises in tow. Next month, thousands of true leaders will be marching on the streets of New York demanding real action. The question is, will our elected leaders follow.”

Page Four

Demand Swells for Straight Answers on the Downing of Malaysian Airlines’ MH17 in Ukraine weapons in space, or Russia’s prior application for membership in NATO.

By David Swanson A long list of prominent individuals has signed, a number of organizations will be promoting next week, and you can be one of the first to sign right now a petition titled “Call For Independent Inquiry of the Airplane Crash in Ukraine and its Catastrophic Aftermath.” The petition is directed to “All the heads of states of NATO countries, and of Russia and the Ukraine, to Ban-ki Moon and the heads of states of countries on the UN Security Council.” And it will be delivered to each of them. The petition reads: “Set up an impartial international fact finding inquiry and a public report on the events in Ukraine, to reveal the truth of what occurred.”Why is this important?”It’s important because there is so much misinformation and disinformation in the media that we are careening towards a new Cold War with Russia over this.” That’s not hyperbole. It’s the language of U.S. and Russian politicians and media. Of course, there are undisputed facts that could change people’s understanding. Many Americans are unaware of NATO’s expansion or of what actions Russia views as aggressive and threatening. But when a particular incident appears to be set up as a proximate cause for war, it is well worth our time to insist COMBAT: July/August, 2014

on an exposure of the facts. Doing so is not to concede that any outcome of the inquiry would justify a war. Rather it is to prevent the imposition of an unproven explanation that makes war more likely. What if the Gulf of Tonkin had been investigated 50 years ago this month? What if the independent inquiry that Spain wanted into the USS Maine had been allowed? What if Congress hadn’t swallowed the one about the babies taken from incubators or that hilarious bit about the vast stockpiles of WMDs? Or, on the other hand, what if everyone had listened to John Kerry unskeptically on Syria last year? When a Malaysian airplane went down in Ukraine, Kerry immediately blamed Vladimir Putin, but has yet to produce any evidence to back up the accusation. Meanwhile, we learn that the U.S. Government is looking into the possibility that what happened was actually an attempt to assassinate Putin. Those two versions, the one initially announced with no apparent basis and the one reportedly now being investigated in secret, could hardly be more different. That the second one is under consideration makes it appear very likely that any serious proof of the former claim has not been found. Here’s a longer version of the petition: “At this very moment in history, when so many people and nations around the

world are acknowledging the 100th Anniversary of our planet’s hapless stumble into World War I, great powers and their allies are ironically once again provoking new dangers where governments appear to be sleepwalking towards a restoration of old Cold War battles. A barrage of conflicting information is broadcast in the various national and nationalistic media with alternative versions of reality that provoke and stoke new enmities and rivalries across national borders. “With the U.S. and Russia in possession of over 15,000 of the world’s 16,400 nuclear weapons, humanity can ill-afford to stand by and permit these conflicting views of history and opposing assessments of the facts on the ground to lead to a 21st Century military confrontation between the great powers and their allies. While sadly acknowledging the trauma suffered by the countries of Eastern Europe from years of Soviet occupation, and understanding their desire for the protection of the NATO military alliance, we, the signers of this global call to action, also note that the Russian people lost 20 million people during WWII to the Nazi onslaught, and are understandably wary of NATO expansion to their borders in a hostile environment. Russia has lost the protection of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which the US abandoned in 2001, and warily observes missile bases metastasizing ever closer to its borders in new NATO member states, while the US rejects repeated Russian efforts for negotiations on a treaty to ban

“For these reasons, we the peoples, as members of Civil Society, Non-Governmental Organizations, and global citizens committed to peace and nuclear disarmament, demand that an independent international inquiry be commissioned to review events in Ukraine leading up to the Malaysian jet crash, and of the procedures being used to review the catastrophic aftermath. The inquiry should factually determine the cause of the accident and hold responsible parties accountable to the families of the victims and the citizens of the world who fervently desire peace and a peaceful settlement of any existing conflicts. It should include a fair and balanced presentation of what led to the deterioration of U.S. –Russian relations and the new hostile and polarized posture that the U.S. and Russia, with their allies, find themselves in today. “The UN Security Council, with US and Russian agreement, has already passed Resolution 2166 addressing the Malaysian jet crash, demanding accountability, full access to the site, and a halt to military activity which has been painfully disregarded at various times since the incident. One of the provisions of SC Res 2166 notes that the Council “[s]upports efforts to establish a full, thorough and independent international investigation into the incident, in accordance with international civil aviation guidelines.” Further, the 1909 revised Convention on the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes, adopted at the 1899 Hague International Peace Conference, has been used successfully to resolve issues between states, so that war was avoided in the past. Both Russia and Ukraine are parties to the Convention. “Regardless of the forum where the evidence is gathered and fairly evaluated, we, the undersigned, urge that the facts be known as to how we got to this unfortunate state of affairs on our planet today, and what might be the solutions. We urge Russia and Ukraine, as well as their allies and partners, to engage in diplomacy and negotiations, not war and hostile alienating actions. The world can little afford the trillions of dollars in military spending and trillions and trillions of brain cells wasted on war, when our very Earth is under stress and needs the critical attention of our best minds and thinking and the abundance of resources mindlessly diverted to war to be made available for the challenge confronting us, to create a livable future for life on earth.” Page Five

Noble House workers receive 7 per cent wage/salary hike

FITUG welcomes BRICS Bank and is concerned with Palestine escalation

Workers engaged in the processing of shrimp

The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the Management of Noble House Seafoods Limited (NHSL), on August 26, 2014, negotiated an across-the-board wage/salary increase of seven (7) per cent covering the period April 01, 2014 to March 31, 2015 for the Company’s 250-member workforce. Bursary awards, meals allowances and leave allowances have also been adjusted upward.

The Union’s negotiating team, which was led by its General Secretary, Cde Seepaul Narine, included the shop stewards; whereas the Company’s team was led by its General Manager and included other Senior Managers. The Company and the Union have also agreed to meet in October this year to commence discussions with a view to establishing a Pension Scheme covering the workers.

GAWU, yet again, joins in the national celebration marking the one hundred and seventy-sixth (176th) anniversary of the emancipation of the forefathers of our African Guyanese citizenry. This has become a joyful tradition, and one which holds great significance for us. Freedom from physical bondage, which brought on unspeakable brutality and exploitation spawned by colonialism/capitalism, was undoubtedly a step along the way to our independence, the breaking of the colonial relationship and the forging of a Guyanese nation. It must be noted that freedom, in 1838, was won and attained from the heroic and self-sacrificing struggles of the slaves. Today, we must not only embrace those struggles, but they should inspire us as a people to jealously guard our independence and our general sovereignty in times when renewed efforts are being more and more seen to re-establish colonial relations in various regions of the world. The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) recognizes the major contribution of the descend-

ants of those freed African slaves in the continuous development of Guyana and in all areas of our country’s life – sport, culture, politics, security, foreign service. So many have received acclaim regionally and internationally too. Not only our Afro-Guyanese citizens but, indeed, our country has come a far way in these 176 years. We overcame many hurdles, much of which have been rooted in the intrigues of the colonialists and their local collaborators. In our celebration, therefore, we should take pride in the progress made against all odds, and let our achievements motivate us to reach yet greater heights and record achievements for our individual lives and in our society as a whole. Though our times are serious and challenging, we can draw strength and heed the lessons from our forefathers – our hopes for a better life, society and world are realizable in our unity and principled struggles.

GAWU Emancipation Message

COMBAT: July/August, 2014

Happy Emancipation Day! It is a day for Celebration by All Guyanese!

TOP: BRICS countries leaders at the 6th Summit, BOTTOM: Destruction to Palestinain homes caused by Israeli operations

The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG), the nation’s majority labour grouping, welcomes the decision of the Sixth BRICS Summit, held in Fortaleza, Brazil, to launch a Development Bank. Those countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – together represent an important segment of the developing world, and their bank, we feel, will contribute greatly to increased South-South co-operation and collaboration. Certainly, it will greatly assist countries, especially those of the developing world in their modest, at this time, modernization and developmental thrusts, and provide an alternative, to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which have come under severe criticism over the years for imposing harsh prescriptions and conditionalities through their intervention in several countries experiencing economic/financial distress. This Bank, which will be headquartered in Shanghai, China, holds out the promise that a first step is being taken that will lead to a new world financial architecture. FITUG views this development in a positive light. On the other hand, FITUG wishes to express its outrage at the latest Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people living in the Gaza area. It wishes to add its condemnation of the murderous and sustained bombing of civilians and the wanton destruction perpetuated by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF). The killing of the three Israeli youths was in-

deed tragic and deplorable, but is being used as a pretext for the indiscriminate bombing of the people. However, we, of FITUG, subscribe to the view that the Israeli reaction is utterly disproportionate and unjustified. In just over a week, we understand, scores of civilians have been killed, homes levelled, and, in general, the bombings have been merciless. The FITUG expresses solidarity with the Palestinian people, to the political and trade union organizations of the liberation movement, and to the families of the victims. We join in the worldwide condemnation of the Israeli regime which, in blatant disregard of international public opinion, and opposed in several UN resolutions, holds the Palestinian people in colonial and apartheid bondage. FITUG recognizes that Israel’s aggressive behaviour over the years is rooted in the support – financial and military – it has been receiving from a few countries, but mainly from the USA. The latest inhuman military adventure of Israel can only serve to pour fuel in a region torn, fragmented and set aflame by imperialist forces with the help of their vassals. In the obtaining circumstances, FITUG extends unwavering solidarity with the people of Gaza and all Palestine. Not only must Israeli crimes cease, but the UN has a duty to ensure that today’s crimes, as well as those committed previously by Israel, do not go unpunished. FITUG is in solidarity with the causes of the Palestinian people Page Six

The Ukraine Crisis and its Development Russian Ambassador explains genesis at FITUG forum

LEFT: Russian Ambassador to Guyana, His Excellency Nikolay D. Smirnov, delivering his presentation, RIGHT: A section of the audience at the forum

At the invitation of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) – the nation’s majority trade union grouping – Russian Ambassador to Guyana, His Excellency Nikolay D. Smirnov, addressed a packed audience at the GAWU Conference Room in Georgetown, on August 28, 2014, on the origins and developments of the current turmoil in the Ukraine. Using pictorial slides to illustrate his explanations, Ambassador Smirnov traced American interference in the new republic’s affairs since its independence in 1991. Explaining that Ukraine’s population of sixty-two (62) million accommodates some ten (10) millions Russians and Russian-speakers, the envoy exposed the US’ alleged strategy to establish military outposts in that part of the world – Eastern Europe, inclusive of Ukraine. In his presentation, he denied direct Russia (military) involvement in Ukraine, but emphasized the humanitarian initiatives being undertaken by Russia even as Ukrainian bombardments continue to devastate Russian-speaking cities of South-Eastern Ukraine, sending tens of thousands of refugees to Russia. The Ambassador also outlined some of the underlying causes of the escalating conflict. In addition to blatant US interventions, he pointed also to Ukraine’s misguided efforts to join the European Union (EU) and the palace coup d’état against the previous democratically elected government of Ukraine. Ambassador Smirnov explained how this desire to join the EU, promoted by the elite oligarchs, would militate against Ukraine’s economy, with ripple effects throughout the region, as Russia will not countenance EU dumping. He addressed passingly the likely concomitant consequences of interventions by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, COMBAT: July/August, 2014

and even reminded the audience of how harshly the EU treated Guyana and the Caribbean with respect to rum and sugar exports, and also warned about the possible implications for bauxite from Guyana using Ukrainian ports. He reiterated that the conflict stems from the unconstitutional power-grab which ousted the previous elected government at the end of February, 2014. The crisis was precipitated by an orchestrated campaign by right-wing opposition and neo-fascist forces in Ukraine – with massive financial backing and guidance from imperialist powers – to overthrow the democratically elected government and seize power. Far from being a popular, pro-democracy “people’s uprising”, this coup d’état was aimed at bringing Ukraine entirely under the influence and domination of the Western centres. The coup in Kiev has been met by increasing popular resistance. The people of Crimea voted by an overwhelming majority to join the Russian Federation. In other parts of Eastern Ukraine, proautonomy forces have taken over more than 20 cities and towns in defiance of the pro-Western regime in Kiev, and are now facing a brutal military offensive by the regime, seeking to regain control. Artillery barrages and air strikes have killed a large number of unarmed civilians. Furthermore, a number of atrocities have been committed by the newly-formed Ukrainian “National Guard”, made up largely of pro-Nazi and neo-fascist “volunteers”, the Ambassador revealed. The evening’s encounter was arranged out of FITUG’s concern over the rising conflict. The Federation joins peace-loving forces around the world to demand that military actions be stopped, the dire situation be resolved politically, and the democratic and legitimate concerns and the wishes of the people of Eastern

Ukraine be respected. The peace-loving forces must act to block the threat of a new Cold War, and to prevent any further escalation of the crisis. Such an approach would be in keeping with our commitment to preserve world peace.

The activity attracted a substantial response from Guyanese of all walks of life, and included Members of Parliament, Trade Unionists, and scores of workers and other interested persons.

GAWU awards bursaries

GAWU General Secretary, Cde Seepaul Narine, first from the right, and Union Officials with the awardees at the presentation at the Union’s Georgetown Office on August 29, 2014

The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) awarded twenty-six (26) bursaries to workers’ children who sat the National Grade Six Examinations this year. This year’s event was conducted at two (2) events – at the Union’s Office in Georgetown and at the Rose Hall Estate Training Building in Berbice. Union officials presented the monetary awards while a parent of each pupil witnessed the activities. At both activities, held on August 29, 2014, the Union’s General Secretary, Cde Seepaul Narine, congratulated the students and advised them to continue studying and learning. He noted that

information and communication technology (ICT) requires sound education for one to enter today’s job-market, and he urged the parents to continue to support and encourage their children as they pursue their future studies. He expressed the hope that the Union’s bursaries would contribute in some way to encourage the awardees to engage in future educational pursuits and that they would write the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) examinations in five years’ time and be successful in a number of subjects. The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union Co-operative Credit Union Society Limited contributed three (3) of the twenty-six (26) bursaries. Page Seven

GAWU in solidarity with Palestinian people including Palestinians, the right to resist occupation. We join with the significant sections of the world’s people to also recognize the profound role the US plays in the occupation of Palestine and its generally proIsraeli stances in face of the injustice, destruction, massacres and crimes directed at the Palestinian people. We note the revelation that US props up Israel with as much as US$8.5M daily. The blood of

the innocent and the injustice done to the Palestinian people are not only on hands of the present rulers of Israel but also in the hands of the reactionary forces that support it. GAWU, once again, express its solidarity to the Palestinian workers and the Palestinian people as well. We stand firmly with this oppressed but heroic people in their fight and demand for a free, independent and sovereign Palestine.

No Confidence? In Whom?

GAWU on August 11, 2014 joined other fraternal organisations to picket the US embassy

Continued from page one

The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) joins peace loving peoples across the world to condemn the latest Israeli assault on Gaza labelled: “Operation Protective Edge”. While we welcome the truce and ceasefire, which we hope will be upheld by Israel, we also note that Gaza still remains under a brutal and crippling siege and occupation. The recent military assault on Gaza resulted in hundreds of civilian injuries and killings, including the deaths of numerous children. The recent violent attacks on Gaza also destroyed a significant number of homes and infrastructure, which will have a devastating effect on the Gaza Strip. The recent attacks must be seen within a larger context and understood

Elsewhere in this publication, there must be a position by GAWU on the status and fate of Guyana’s historic and stillvital sugar industry. We spare readers here the repetition about all that is wrong with sugar right now, but let us not fool ourselves: the next six (6) months are the crossroads for sugar in Guyana, and farreaching decisions would be forged expectedly after the next national elections. We mean this immediate period to make decisions about Skeldon and all that was promised five (5) years ago; about the challenged Enmore Packaging Plant; about workers’ attitudes and participation – and mechanization and peasant cane farming. Crucially, the new GuySuCo Board is not all that “new”. What new

as the latest in the sixty-four (64) year occupation and colonization of Palestinian land. Gaza, one of the most densely populated places on earth, has been under Israeli siege since 2006. This is collective punishment on Gazans for democratically electing Hamas. “The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger,” the former chief of staff to Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon confessed. Israel’s brutal siege of Gaza violates international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions. The majority of Gazans are among the estimated seven (7) million Palestinian refugees. We need also to emphasize that international law guarantees all people,

can it bring to management and workers? Read more elsewhere in this issue. “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”, some Guyanese believe. Cleanliness as a national habit can save millions in solid waste management costs from spending on disease eradication or control and/or medical care. The aesthetics, the attraction and beauty for ourselves and for our visitors is another desirable spin-off of the current CleanUp projects in towns and villages. Who can be against that? The cleanliness must be sustained. Just let’s monitor a structured national exercise that must extend and be sustained beyond 2014.

GuySuCo procrastinating wages negotiations

GuySuCo’s CEO, Dr Raj Singh (backing the camera in grey), meeting with the Union’s negotiating team on July 10, 2014

The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) have been engaged in negotiations from July 03, 2014 on the Union’s claim for a wage/

salary increase for the Corporation’s unionized workforce represented by the Union for this year – 2014. Two (2) other meetings were held on July 09 and 10, 2014. The latter meeting

was also attended by the newly-appointed Chief Executive Officer, Dr Rajendra Singh, who urged that a settlement be reached at the earliest. At the meeting, the parties agreed to a pause of the negotiations to allow the Union and the Corporation to meet separately with a representative body of workers from each of the seven (7) grinding estates, for the workers to consider the replacement of the qualification of Annual Production Incentive (API), Weekly Production Incentive (WPI) and Holiday with Pay (HWP) from 80 per cent to 82.5 per cent work attendance. After the consultation exercise involving workers from only three (3) estates, the Corporation arbitrarily abandoned the exercise and, by letter dated July 18, 2014, requested the Union to agree for both the Corporation and the Union to refer the wage/salary issue to Arbitration. The Union, by letter dated July 30, 2014,

informed the Corporation that it did not agree with its request. It is not a logical step for the Union to approve such request. The bilateral negotiations have not reached an impasse, and if it ever does, the conciliatory service of the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security is the next intervention. At the end of the negotiation meeting of July 10, 2014, the Corporation agreed to a three (3) per cent wage-hike and a four (4) per cent rise should the workers agree to the Corporation’s work attendance qualification. The Corporation’s procrastination in concluding the wage/salary negotiation is a matter of concern. Workers’ patience may not hold for long, and many are already voicing that an engagement in protest action is necessary to persuade the Corporation to return to the bargaining table.

COMBAT is a publication of the Guyana Agricultural & General Workers Union (GAWU) 59 High Street & Wights Lane, Kingston, Georgetown, Guyana, S.A. Tel: 592-227-2091/2; 225-5321 , 223-6523 Fax: 592-227-2093 Email: gawu@bbgy.com Website: www.gawu.net