Issue#:3 Volume#: 34
Combat Voice of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU)
Editorial:
Hope: from May/June to the future What do the citizens of Guyana, including the thousands of GAWU members serving in the vital sectors of Guyana’s economy, wish to see programmed and implemented in the shortest possible time, if not immediately? In a few days, we shall enter the second half of 2013. The Combat editorial team pondered such a question, and then surveyed a few GAWU members, friends and colleagues. Put in all styles of language, the answer seemed obvious: “We want national peace, security, and greater production in all areas of national economic life, so that we can all enjoy a reasonable quality of life”. Is that not what all Guyanese need, whatever the month of year? In a country such as Guyana is, so blessed with natural resources as forests, rivers, gold, rice, diamonds, sugar and a very young population, it is not unreasonable nor unexpected that Guyanese should feel that they are entitled to just rewards for fair work. This editorial hastens to point out briefly three (3) salient points related to our people’s expectations: one – the country’s resources have to be competently managed by the government, its expert employees and investors, including foreign; two – the government, the politicians and employers somehow have to ensure equitable distribution of the wealth from our national resources; (most societies find that a challenge when the wealth is accumulated by just a few favoured groups); three: the very expectant working-class and their representatives have to support sustained production when employment is created. The three (3) elements above are just few basics to ensure a satisfied population. Citizens, especially hard working comrades, would be thankful for “gains since independence” and the “achievements of PPP/C governments” since 1992. But workers with families, while they recall the past, are interested in the present and the future. And life is challenging for Guyana’s small population these days. Hope is ever present, however, in a Guyana spared from natural disasters so prevalent elsewhere around this time of year. Hope is eternal in Guyanese breasts, because there are still dedicated managers and workers to get this economy even stronger. Combat cannot ignore the obvious challenge in the besieged sugar industry, wherein thousands are toiling. There is more than enough blame to share around. Combat will not join in, when it can do little better than to quote GAWU’s President, Komal Chand, at this 2013 Enmore Martyrs Rally. Continued on page three COMBAT: May/June, 2013
May/June, 2013
GAWU and GuySuCo at negotiations two (2) meetings held
GAWU’s delegation meeting with GuySuCo during negotiations
Following the submission of two (2) memoranda of claims - one with respect to the workers in the field and factory, and the other concerning the field foremen/ forewomen - by the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) to the Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc (GuySuCo) on March 26 and 28, 2013 respectively, the union and the company met on June 04 and 07, 2013. The union’s claims with respect to personal protective equipment (PPE) were each deliberated upon. However, the corporation approved adjustments in thirteen (13) out of the eighty-six (86) issues. PPE includes items such as farm tools, foot wear, protective clothing, gloves, helmets, protective eye wear.
The union and the corporation are to continue negotiations in July, 2013 on pay rise for all workers who are represented by the union. It will be a challenging exercise because the industry’s production is predicted by a source to be merely around 200,000 tonnes sugar or 40,000 tonnes lower than the Corporation’s announced target of 240,000 announced in March this year. Last year’s production of merely 218,064 tonnes sugar caused the industry to suffer a deficit. The expected lower production this year will certainly place the corporation in further trouble and jeopardise and its inability to satisfy some of its basic expenditure.
GAWU and Caricom Rice Mills conclude agreement The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the Caricom Rice Mills Limited (CRML), on June 12, 2013, after three (3) rounds of negotiations, agreed on a pay rise for the bompany’s 60-person workforce by six (6) per cent, retroactive to January 01, 2013. Additionally, dust allowances have been increased from four (4) to ten (10) dollars per hour, and height premium from 10 per cent to 20 per cent of the worker’s basic rate-of-pay. Further, two (2) overalls will be given each year to carpenters and workers of the Silo Department, rather than one (1) per year.
The company, in keeping with the legal forty (40)-hour work week will, from July 01, 2013, ensure all its employees are awarded one-and-a-half-time pay for working in excess of 40 hours per week. The union’s team was led by its General Secretary, Cde Seepaul Narine, and included the Field Secretary, Cde Ramkarran Dass, and shop stewards Bernard Alfonso, Joseph Allicock and Ronald DeFreitas. The company was represented by its General Manager, Mr Curtis Mattis, and its Administrative Manager, Mrs F.Y. Mohamed. Page One
National Minimum Wage approved for Guyana The Government of Guyana, for the first time, approved a statutory minimum wage of thirty-five thousand dollars (G$35,000) per month with effect from July 01, 2013. This is a land-mark decision by the Government and it stands out among a number of labour-friendly pieces of legislationss namely:- the Trade Union Recognition Act, the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Prevention of Discrimination Act, and the Annual Leave with Pay Act all passed since the PPP/Civic Government assumed Office in 1992.
The Labour Movement had long dreamt of a National Minimum Wage. Particularly, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) and its affiliates – the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE), the Clerical and Commercial Workers Union (CCWU), and the Guyana Labour Union (GLU) – have been voicing, over the past years, the need for a National Minimum Wage. GAWU, in its last May Day address, noted:- “In our ranks, for example, are many who are underpaid due to the absence of a considered minimum wage. We must ensure that this issue be dealt with urgently.”
“Capitalist barbarism, crisis and Imperialist wars, or Socialism”
GAWU Labour College:
Empowering our members
- 179 trained so far in 2013
Seven (7) five(5)-day live-in courses have been completed as at the end of June 2013. There was an aggregate of 179 participants attending the seven (7) courses. Five (5) other courses are earmarked for the year. Topics of the five-day courses included: COMBAT: May/June, 2013
The Enmore Packaging Plant financed through the Accomanying Measures
Guyana’s Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh, and European Ambassador to Guyana, Robert Kopecky, inked on June 20, 2013 an agreement whereby a grant of €23.355M will be available to the Government of Guyana as budgetary support. The European Union has been providing financial support to eighteen (18) African, Caribbean and Pacific countries following its arbitrary denunciation of the Sugar Protocol and the drastic cut by 36 per cent of the price for for sugar imported by Europe from the ACP countries. The cut was staggered over a four(4) year period, beginning in 2006 with a 5 per cent slash; a 9 per cent reduction in 2008; and finally, a 22 per cent cut in 2009. The EU, in efforts to compensate the 18 ACP states for the price cut, offered aid called “Accompanying Measures”, which required each country to submit Multi Annual Adaptation Strategies (MAAS), better known as Sugar Action Plans, to the EU. Guyana submitted its MAAS in 2006 and sought funding for various initiatives totalling €440,232,980 or G$124B, However, the EU, for the period 2006 to
2013, approved the sum of €171.7M, with penalties if certain indicators aren’t met during the respective years. In the case of the recently-inked agreement, GuySuCo is required to attain certain conditions with respect to replanting, land conversion, mechanical harvesting, drainage works, and factory improvement. Also, the Ministry of Finance must satisfy macro-economic conditions, and implement reforms to further improve public financial management. The sum from the EU, therefore, is earmarked to support Guyana’s sugar industry toward making it cost effective in the production of sugar, including packaged sugar. For the years 2006 to 2011, the Government has received €91.5M. It is noted that €8M or G$2.4B has been provided to GuySuCo for construction of the Packaging Plant at Enmore, which was commissioned in May 2011. The sugar industry needs the full allocations of the EU funding arising from the Accompanying Measures for this vital state entity to recover from its present crisis and once again perform in the interest of its stakeholders and the country’s economy.
Improvements for Noble House Seafoods’ workers
Partcipants attending one of the courses
The education programme of the union’s Labour College for this year is being fulfilled.
EU and Government ink financing agreement for Accompanying Measures
An understanding of collective labour agreements; the challenges and prospects of Guyana’s Sugar Industry; NIS benefits; political and economic structure of Guyana; class division of society; Capitalism and the current global crisis; operation of a company; a short history of GAWU; GAWU’s organizational structure; the role of the shop steward; an understanding of the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act, and some other important worker-friendly acts.
Three (3) negotiation meetings between the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the Management of Noble House Seafoods Limited (NHSL) concluded with the under-mentioned changed for the Company’s 220 person workforce. The adjustments, which take effect from April 01, 2013 to March 31, 2014, update the extant Collective Agreement. A six (6) per cent rise in pay
Meals Allowance: Breakfast Allowance Overtime Meal Allowance: Up to two hours Beyond two hours Vacation Allowance: One to four years’ service Five to eight years’ service Over eight years’ service
$375 $350 $700 $10,000 $12,000 $14,000
Continued on page three Page Two
65th Death Anniversary of the Enmore Martyrs observed
“Sugar in Crisis”
A section of the gathering at the Enmore Martyrs Rally on June 16, 2013
On (Sunday) June 16, 2013, our country observed the 65th Death Anniversary of the Enmore Martyrs, namely:- Rambarran; Lall, called Pooran; Lallabajie Kissoon; Surujballi, called Dookie; and Harry. The five (5) young workers were killed and fourteen (14) others were injured when colonial police opened fire on a crowd of striking workers who were seeking improvements in their living and working conditions. As usual, a wreathlaying and tribute ceremony was held at the Martyrs’ gravesite at the Le Repentir Cemetery in the morning, and later in the day, a rally was held at the Enmore Martyrs Monument Square, East Coast Demerara. The wreath-laying event was preceded by a march from the Square of the Revolution to the cemetery. At the cemetery, wreaths were laid by the martyrs’ relatives; the Government of Guyana, through the Minister of Labour, Dr N.K. Gopaul; trade unions, including the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers
Union (GAWU); and other fraternal organizations. Tributes were delivered by Cde Sherwood Clarke, First Vice President of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG); Cde Aslim Singh, International Affairs Secretary of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU); and the Minister of Labour, Dr N.K. Gopaul. The rally, despite being held on June 16, 2013, which was Father’s Day, attracted an appreciable gathering, which saw addresses from FITUG’s President, Cde Carvil Duncan; GAWU’s President, Cde Komal Chand; and the Head of State, His Excellency President Donald Ramotar. Before the addresses wreaths were placed at the base of the Enmore Martyrs Monument. Intervening the addresses, were a few appropriate cultural presentations and renditions from the Police Military Band. GAWU’s address at the Enmore Martyrs Rally will be published in the next edition of Combat.
His Excellency President Donald Ramotar, speaking at the 65th Death Anniversary Commemoration activity of the Enmore Martyrs on June 16, 2013, in referring to the sugar industry and its declining levels of production, whose production in the first crop this year (2013) plummeted to an extreme low of 48,038 tonnes sugar, contended that the sugar industry is in “crisis mode”.
Continued from page one He said: “Generations of workers and their families suffered immensely to keep the wheels of that industry turning, thus making a major contribution to Guyana’s economy. This is one reason why we are disheartened by the difficulties the industry is currently passing through. “The industry’s history is said to mirror our nation’s history. Its development and progress over the last three and a half centuries are largely responsible for thousands of slaves and indentured labourers being brought to our country, and their descendants becoming its economic lifeline. Sugar played a pivotal role in building our economy, and through the cruelty of slavery and indentureship and exploitation, sugar assisted to enrich our colonial masters in Europe.
Today, forty-seven (47) years after independence, the sugar industry continues to serve our country in a multi-faceted way. Therefore, we cannot allow the industry to fail, the impact which would be nothing short of devastation. There is an urgent need to once more bring production to levels whereby, with the continuing almost favourable prices, the industry would once again perform profitably and offer significant benefits to those dependent on it. This is not a time for complacency in the industry. We are of the view that its difficulties are demanding, but not overwhelming. Let us draw a lesson from the Enmore Martyrs and go forward boldly and unitedly.” Sugar must not fail. Right now, if change has to come, that, too, much be carefully managed.
Should the industry’s decline in sugar production - which plummeted from 325,317 tonnes sugar in 2004 to 218,064 tonnes in 2012 - continue, it will be detrimental to the social life of thousands of Guyanese. Sugar is perhaps the most im-
Hope from May/June to the future
COMBAT: May/June, 2013
Before and after President Ramotar’s remarks, there has been an avalanche of comments in the print and electronic media about measures which ought to be adopted to deal with the woes of the country’s major state entity. Calls included replacement of the entire Board of Directors with persons of sound agricultural knowledge; hiring of specialists in cane agronomy; the re-adoption of certain field practices, like flood-fallowing; acceleration of the mechanization process in cane harvesting; and a probe into the past functioning of the industry.
portant economic lifeline of the country, and the President noted that there has not been a major shift from dependence on the industry forty-seven (47) years after the granting of political independence from Great Britain. The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), which represents thousands of workers employed in the industry’s fields and factories as well as some of its junior supervisory staffers, is indeed naturally and deeply concerned about the future of the industry, since workers’ jobs and livelihoods hang in uncertainty as the industry’s performance worsens. The export price of the industry’s sugar is fairly compensatory, and there is foreign markets that is more than adequate to absorb a great proportion of our present sugar production. Surely, the three-and-a-half-century-old industry is not bereft of knowledge and experience in cane growing and processing. The past commitment and correct agricultural practices by staffers of the corporation must once again be adopted, lest the industry’s crisis transforms into the collapse and closure of a number of estates.
Improvements for Noble House Seafoods’ workers continued from page two
secondary school
Bursary awards: $15,000 per year for five consecutive years, provided the awardee remains in
An incentive of $1,500 per day for working on Sunday and Holiday apart from the stipulated pay. Page Three
INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL
Communications of millions subject to US-UK spying
By Eric London Whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed on Friday that the UK intelligence agency GCHQ and the NSA record the content of phone calls, email messages, Facebook posts and browser histories of tens of millions of people. By tapping into fiber-optic cables—the infrastructure through which all Internet traffic must pass—the two agencies have created a systematic procedure for procuring, filtering, and storing private communications. The leak is the latest in a series that has left the US and UK Governments scurrying to cover up their deeply antidemocratic manoeuvres with scripted lies. It comes one day after the release of secret FISA court documents showing the NSA has almost complete latitude to monitor the communications of US residents. Hours after the release of the latest documents, the US Government announced that it was filing charges against Snowden under the Espionage Act, which contains a possible penalty of execution. “Nobody is listening to your telephone calls,” President Obama said in a public speech two weeks ago. UK Foreign Minister William Hague told MPs last week that there is “a strong framework of democratic accountability and oversight” within the national intelligence apparatus. According to documents leaked to the Guardian, and reported by Glenn Greenwald, however, GCHQ and the NSA have set up a complex scheme by which the COMBAT: May/June, 2013
intelligence agencies collect data and content from the communications of at least tens of millions of people. Officials monitor the data and content of those communications, and then store what they deem valuable. Described by GCHQ with the revealing titles “Mastering the Internet” and “Global Telecoms Exploitation,” the programs expose the repeated claims of President Obama and his co-conspirators as outright lies. Through the “Tempora” program, the two agencies have been tapping and storing hundreds of petabytes of data from a majority of the fiberoptic cables in the UK over the past 18 months. The NSA has a similar program in the US, as revealed in an Associated Press report last week. First, GCHQ handles 600 million “telephone events” each day by tapping over 200 fiber-optic cables, including those that connect the UK to the US. According to the Guardian, GCHQ is able to collect data at a rate “equivalent to sending all the information in all the books in the British Library 192 times every 24 hours” by processing data from a minimum of 46 fiber-optic cables simultaneously. The data is then transmitted to a government database and shared with the NSA, which is given top clearance. Lawyers for the GCHQ told their American counterparts that it was “your call” as to what limitations should be in place for data sifting and storage. According to the leaked documents, these massive databases have been built up over the past several years through widespread corporate collaboration. GCHQ colludes with an array of companies it calls “intercept partners,” and sometimes forces them to hand over huge quantities of data for inspection and storage. The corporate agreements were kept highly guarded under fears that public knowledge of the collusion would lead to “high-level political fallout.” Once the data is collected, the agencies then filter information through a process known as Massive Volume Reduction (MVR). Through this process, information is pared down to specific individuals, email addresses, or phone numbers. The NSA identified 31,000 “selector” terms, while GCHQ identified 40,000. The leaked documents reveal that a majority of the information extracted is content, including word-for-word email, text and phone recordings. Through Tempora, GCHQ and the NSA have set up Internet buffers that allow the agencies to watch data accumulate in real-time and store it for less than a week for content, or 30 days for metadata. “Internet buffers represent an exciting opportunity to get direct access to enormous amounts of GCHQ’s special source data,” agents explained in the leaked documents. Valuable information is presumably removed from this temporary buffer and kept on file in intelligence storage facilities. This information filtration system is not aimed at eliminating the possibility of storing the data of inno-
cent people. In fact, this is precisely the purpose of the surveillance programs. Rather, unnecessary information is sifted out because the governments do not yet have the ability to store such vast quantities of communications content and metadata. Despite these technological limitations, the immensity of the Tempora program was best described by GCHQ attorneys, who acknowledged that listing the number of people targeted by the program would be impossible because “this would be an infinite list which we couldn’t manage.” GCHQ officials bragged that its surveillance program “produces larger amounts of metadata than NSA,” and were told by GCHQ attorneys that “[w]e have a light oversight regime compared with the US.” The latter statement is extraordinary given the fact that the FISA Court allows the NSA to operate almost entirely without constraint. The revelations highlight the international character of the global surveillance programs. Far from being satisfied with storing the content of the communications of its own residents, the US and UK Governments are working together to create an unprecedented database of international intelligence. The intimacy of the two spy agencies is evidenced by an order given by NSA head, Keith Alexander, in 2008: “Why can’t we collect all the signals all the time? Sounds like a good summer homework project for [British and American spy center] Menwith!” Snowden noted that “it’s not just a US problem. The UK has a huge dog in this fight. They [GCHQ] are worse than the US.” Just like their American counterparts, the GCHQ attorneys have attempted to place a legal veneer over the facially illegal spying operations of the government. GCHQ lawyers have invoked Paragraph Four of Section 8 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) to run around the legal requirement that intelligence officials acquire a warrant before performing a wiretap. Since this would have required GCHQ to acquire a warrant for every person in the UK, the attorneys instead have claimed that they can perform indiscriminate data mining operations with a “certificate” from a minister. In a briefing document released by Snowden, GCHQ attorneys claim that these certificates “cover the entire range of GCHQ’s intelligence production.” Under RIPA, GCHQ officials may also seek a Sensitive Targeting Authority (STA), which would allow them to spy on any UK citizen “anywhere in the world”, or on a foreign person in the UK. A lawyer for GCHQ also noted in the secret documents that the parliamentary intelligence and security committee, which oversees the intelligence agencies, has “always been exceptionally good at understanding the need to keep our work secret,” and that a tribunal set up to monitor the agencies has “so far always found in our favoir.” Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, to which the UK is a signatory, states: “Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence,” and that “[t] here shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right, except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society…” In Britain as much as the United States, the ruling class is engaged in activity that is in flagrant violation of these democratic principles. Page Four
INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL
Groups slam trade deal for choosing “private interests and profits” over people and planet
The group is calling on sState signatories to “denounce and stop signing” these agreements that have “unlawfully subjected them to foreign jurisdictions and violate peoples’ rights.” Rather, they propose for international economic relations an alternative legal framework that is based primarily on democratic principles, prioritizing the rights of humans and nature over “private interests and profits.”
Following the most recent round of Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations in Lima, Peru, more than 130 organizations have come out against such international trade agreements, calling them a “deadly weapon” against democratic rule, the protection of individual rights, and environmental justice. “These agreements further consolidate the asymmetry of laws that propagate that the rights and power of corporations are protected by ‘hard law’ and are above the
rights of peoples and communities,” the groups write in an open letter criticizing the agreements. “We believe that nation-states should have not only the obligation but also the full freedom to implement laws and policies in favour of the people and the environment, without the threat of being sued by transnational capital,” the letter continued. According to the alliance— which includes such groups as Friends of the Earth, Global Trade Watch, Institute for Policy Studies, Global Exchange—under International Investment Agreements (IIAs), such as the TransPacific Partnership, a co-signed country can be sued by a transnational corporation if its laws or policies go against the interests of the corporation, such as legislation that favours people or the environment. “International Investment Agreements grant unprecedented rights to foreign corporations and investors,” said Alberto Villarreal from Friends of the Earth-Uruguay. He added, “They are deadly weapons against democratic rule and the protection of peoples’ rights and environmental justice.”
By Daily Mail Reporter CIA operatives and U.S. special operations troops have been training Syrian rebels with anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons since last year, it has been revealed. Covert training bases were set up in Jordan and Turkey months before President Obama approved plans to arm the opposition fighting to oust Syria’s President Assad, U.S. officials and rebel leaders claim. White House officials refused to comment on the Los Angeles Times revelations, but said the U.S. had increased its help to rebels. ‘‘We have stepped up our assistance, but I cannot inventory for you all the elements of that assistance,’’ White House press Secretary Jay Carney said. ‘‘We have provided, and will continue to provide, substantial assistance to the Syrian opposition, as well as the Supreme Military Council.’’ The Supreme Military Council represents more moderate rebel factions, including the Free Syrian Army.
The revelation came as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Qatar for an international conference on backing the rebels. A State Department official said the talks would include discussions on delivering military aid. CIA and White House officials declined to comment on the secret training programs. Other U.S. officials confirmed the training, but disputed some of the specific details provided by rebel commanders. Jordan’s prime minister, Abdullah Ensour, also denied the CIA and U.S. Special Forces were training rebels in his country. ‘There are no trainings for opposition forces in our territory. We only aid refugees who fled to Jordan,’ he said, according to AFP. An American official who did not want to be named told the Los Angeles Times that Free Syrian Army rebels were being trained. Although the number of rebels being helped is not known, the training in Jordan, involves 20 to 45 insurgents at a time, a rebel commander said. He added that during the two-week course, rebels are shown how to fire anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft weapons. The rebels were picked by U.S. special operations teams last year when supply lines were set up to provide uniforms, radios and medical aid. ‘Those from the CIA, we would sit and talk with them during breaks from training, and afterward they would try to get information on the situation inside Syria,’ the commander said. Brigadier General Yahya Bittar, who defected as a fighter pilot from Assad’s air force last year and is now head
of intelligence for the Free Syrian Army, said training has taken place in Jordan. Between 80 and 100 rebels have been trained by the U.S, France and Jordan in the past month, he said, with rebels then returning to the battlefield. The recent decision to supply arms and ammunition to the rebels this month raised hope that Washington would send heavier weaponry later. Rebel groups have said that they lack the weapons needed to resolve the bloody conflict that has killed more than 100,000 people. President Obama has resisted calls to get drawn into the civil war, and Washington fears Islamic militants could gain control of U.S. weapons. The Obama administration may supply anti-tank weapons, but it is unlikely that they will provide portable anti-aircraft missiles, which rebels say they need. In Qatar, Mr Kerry said assistance would help change the balance on the battlefield. It was his first meeting with his counterparts about aid to the Syrian rebels since it was announced that the U.S. would send lethal aid to the opposition, despite fears that weapons could fall into the hands of Islamic extremists in Syria. That decision was based partly on a U.S. intelligence assessment that Assad had used chemical weapons, but Mr Kerry expressed deeper concerns about Iran and Hezbollah fighters, according to Yahoo. The Secretary of State blamed President Assad for the deteriorating situation in Syria, adding that as the international community tried to hold a conference to create a transitional government, Assad invited Iranian and Hezbollah fighters to bolster his troops.
By Laura McCauley
They explain: This framework should include binding obligations for private and public transnational corporations on issues of human rights as well as economic, labour, social rights, and respect for mother nature. It should also guarantee governments’ possibility to enact public policy for the realization of these rights. In this context, any investment agreement should also include a mechanism for public participation and democratic discussion with representatives of the relevant social sectors. The 11 member states of the Trans-Pacific Partnership - Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, United States of America, Vietnam - are expected to finalize their negotiations by the end of 2013. Friends of the Earth produced the video “Peril in the Pacific” to further explain how countries are impacted by the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
U.S. gives Syrian rebels missile training in secret camps
COMBAT: May/June, 2013
Page Five
FITUG’s positions GAWU attends Against GPL tariff increase Geneva meeting The majority workers’ representative group, FITUG – the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana – is opposed to the massive and sudden 26.7 per cent proposed tariff increase being sought by the Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL). FITUG’s affiliates - the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), the Guyana Labour Union (GLU), the Clerical and Commercial Workers Union (CCWU) and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) - are not persuaded by all the reasons advanced by the GPL for such a steep increase at this time. Issues of losses through transmission and distribution and commercial do not justify such a drastic increase in electricity rates. FITUG agonizes over what such an increase, if approved, would mean for the cost of production of commercial and manufacturing goods for the domestic working-class consumers. Whether sympathizers of government or opposition, the increase will result in untold hardships to all consumers. FITUG notes the situation in Linden, for example, where government’s subsidies mitigate the real cost of electricity provided for such a community. It is, by perception at least, utterly unfair to ask the rest of the nation’s electricity consumers to pay so much more.
The denial of the subsidy and at the same time disagreeing to the tariff hike speaks to the undermining of the utility company and callousness to consumers. Therefore, FITUG strongly calls on the combined Parliamentary Opposition to support the restoration of the G$5.2 billion which was cut out from the Government’G$10.2 billion originally allocated to the GPL in this year’s Estimates of Expenditure. The Federation, on June 12, 2013, sought an audience with His Excellency President Donald Ramotar. FITUG’s delegation informed the President of its vehement disagreement to the proposed increase, and urged his government to do everything to stave off the increases and to persevere with the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric project in order to reduce electricity costs. The President sympathized with FITUG’s call but explained that the Government’s subsidy to the utility body is necessary to contain the electricity rates. President Ramotar also informed the delegation that the Government was actively pursuing the Amaila Falls project and hoped construction could commence in 2014. He also said that the GPL is actively engaged in a number of projects aimed at reducing its losses and strengthen its managerial and technical capabilities in order to improve efficiency.
Endorses: FITUG’s support of the 2013 Budget presented to the National Assembly on March 25, 2013, and which contained measures aimed at fostering growth while improving our people’s welfare and standard of living;
care at expectedly affordable costs Prevented the modernization and employment and other benefits associated with a larger airport Threatened the jobs of those workers at NCN and GINA;
May Day 2013 Resolution
Is Alarmed: To learn that several projects, all of which are ongoing, have been cut from the Budget by the united Parliamentary Opposition during consideration of the estimates; Is Convinced: That such cuts have been irresponsible and callous, and the negative consequences will be felt mainly by the Guyanese working people; Expresses the Considered View: That the Budgetary cuts, amounting to the very substantial sum of G$31.4B, would have:• •
Effectively denied our citizens access to cheap and reliable electricity Stopped construction of a Health facility that promised specialty health
COMBAT: May/June, 2013
• •
Participants attending the meeting. Third from the right is GAWU’s General Secretary, Cde Seepaul Narine
The General Secretary of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), Cde Seepaul Narine, who is an Executive Committee member of the International Union of Food, Agriculture, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF), attended that body’s meeting on May 29 – 30, 2013 in Geneva, Switzerland. Most of the ninety-four (94) participants, most of whom were Executive Members, from the various IUF regions attended the meeting. The Caribbean was represented by Cde S. Narine; Cde Clifton Grant, Vice President of the University and Allied Workers Union (UAWU) of Jamaica; and Cde Ronaldine Burgess, Assistant General Secretary of the Bermuda Industrial Workers Union (BIWU) of Bermuda. This year’s meeting was the first Executive meeting since the IUF’s 20th Congress in May 2012, and the work of the
FOR SALE
Condemns Forthrightly: The Parliamentary Opposition’s tactic of cutting the 2013 Budget as they did to the 2012 Budget; Resolves: At this FITUG May Day 2013 Rally as follows: • To call on and support all steps taken by the Government to restore the amounts cut from the Budget, and so continue with the projects affected • To extend solidarity with all our fellow workers affected by these cuts • To authorize FITUG to express in no uncertain terms to the Opposition Parties in Parliament our concern and total disagreement with the 2013 Budget cuts they have effected
IUF since its last Congress was reviewed and reports of the Administrative Committee and the Women’s Committee were considered and ratified. The meeting reiterated its commitment to provide solidarity support to affiliates whose memberships are engaged in especially certain difficult struggles. The meeting approved launching a campaign against Mondelz International of Egypt, calling for the reinstatement of the five (5) founding members of the Egyptian Democratic Labour Congress (EDLC) who were dismissed following a strike. Also, the meeting approved the dispatch of a letter from the IUF to Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), which is engaged in union-busting activities against the BIWU of Bermuda The Executive Committee approved that the 2013 meeting of the Caribbean Region should take place in Trinidad and Tobago on September 09 - 10, 2013.
One (1) GEP44 Olympian Generator Set Specifications 40KVA - 32KW, 110/220 volts Working Hours: 950 Contact:
227-2091/2, 223-6523, 225-5321 or 332-2637/17 Page Six
Towards Workers’ Rights and Rewards
continued from page eight
What must be noted and admired, comrades, is that the crisis has not led to despair. Indeed, workers and oppressed peoples are shrugging off their complacency and sluggishness, and we can see the awakening of a new militancy. These struggles are taking place in the developed world as well as in the developing world. We confront a common and formidable class adversary which will fight tooth and nail to protect its privileges, ill-gotten gains, and corrupt power. But with sound organization, discipline and unity, the workers - all working people - can prevail in these struggles. Let us not forget that our own experiences teach us that the way forward is to go along the path of class struggles. At this time, we must again raise our concern, as citizens of planet Earth, over the growing threats to mankind’s existence. The prognosis by the scientific community remains dire, and urgent actions are required to prevent ecological disasters and drastic climate change with all its alarming consequences which lie ahead. The ecological question has risen to the top of humanity’s agenda. The balance between human society and nature must be reset. Though disasters are now-a-days regular occurrences, capitalists and their political spokespersons still pay them scant attention, and devote meagre resources to address these grave problems. We again condemn this neglectful attitude. For us, on the other hand, we see that our struggles for betterment and progress cannot be delinked from the overall struggles to save our common homeland – Planet Earth. Local Situation Comrades, since last May Day, our country has seen progress. The evidence is in the growth of our economy. Last year was the seventh consecutive year of economic growth, which remains at an average of 4.48 per cent. This is remarkable in view of the continuing financial and economic crises engulfing the developed countries. At the same time, importantly, inflation remains within tolerable levels. From what the Minister of Finance tells us, our economy remains buoyant, and predictions for this year are optimistic. The GAWU recognizes that Budget 2013 contains several measures that will benefit workers and pensioners. We welcome these, even as we believe much more could be done. We are supportive of the reduction of the personal income tax rate; the introduction of mortgage interest relief, ongoing subsidies to GPL and GWI; increase in pension benefits, among others. When assessed alongside some other budgetary measures, these would certainly bring much-needed relief to bear on thousands of beneficiaries. But consideration of the Budget estimates became an occasion to transform our Parliament into a stage for melodrama. Like last year, when the united opposition scissored G$20 billion from the Budget, this year, they moved to cut over G$30 billion, mainly in development projects. And what constructive replacement did they offer for the projects cut? Well, we are still awaiting answers. The questions I ask, and all Guyanese working people must ask themselves, are: Who loses when you stop the construction of a hospital, and one which is foreignfunded too? Who, in their majority, must bear the burden of a possible increase of 26.7 per cent in electricity charges because of the G$5 billion budgetary cut? How many workers will now be denied employment due to the stoppage of the CJIA expansion venture? How many workers are likely to become jobless if the NCN and COMBAT: May/June, 2013
GINA are closed down? The answers one inescapably comes up with are that the country suffers, and the working people and the vulnerable in our society are the losers. It borders on disbelief that our fellow Guyanese can take such positions of shortsightedness at our stage of development. This does not augur well for our economy or our future. Maybe, comrades, there is more in the mortar than the pestle can pound.
Sugar Industry Comrades, as the union representing the largest segment of workers in the sugar industry, we have anxieties over the prolonged setbacks that it is faced with. This industry is too important to our economy and too much entangled with thousands of workers’ lives to perform so poorly. While we express gratitude to the Government for its financial assistance and support, the time has come for collective action of the direct stakeholders to chart a path for the industry’s recovery. From our standpoint, the key problem of the industry is the inadequate supply of canes to the factories. This is not a problem that the industry’s long experience and capabilities cannot handle. It needs to identify where the breakdowns are in the fields in every specific estate, and begin to apply the solutions. It needs committed personnel to take charge of this work, and it must rely in a big way on the workers to bring to bear their practical experiences. The GAWU remains positive that the industry can perform far better than it is doing now. With focused attention, sugar production, in all likelihood, can climb out of its five-(5)-year average of 230,000 tonnes to reach 300,000 tonnes and above. At this time, let me again sound our concern about those lurking to intrude on issues and problems of sugar workers, notwithstanding the representation that workers receive from elected shop stewards and union officials. The intruders are up to no good, and clearly are seeking political mileage in their efforts to undermine GAWU. In their actions, they seek not to safeguard workers, but to destroy their unity and solidarity – the main pillars of the workers’ strength. Trade Union Unity Comrades, in yet another year, I wish to draw to your attention that the Guyanese working class remains divided. This is an unsettling development in an otherwise proud history of the Guyanese working class. In our division we are weak, and our individual struggles and demands bring small results, if any. As we look around us, much is going on at the economic, political and social levels. What is taking place today will impact our lives tomorrow. Given their strategic place in production and their numbers, workers - indeed all working people - should demand a bigger say in the various developments occuring around them. We need to influence policies, but we will be heard only if we speak with one voice. We need to influence the direction our country is going, but we can be effective only if we do so together. We need to express our views on the future to which we aspire, but we must do so with the strength that only our unity can provide. There are those who benefit from our division, and ‘those’ are not us, the workers. In advocating the need for working class unity and seeing the value and need to work and face challenges together, the GAWU hopes that fresh efforts can be made towards this end. Our disunity will only leave us as producers of wealth and providers of services for the enjoyment and enrich-
ment of others.
Exploitation of Resources In recent times, we have noted the increased interest of foreign investors in our mining sector. We are pleased to know that our country can attract such investment. However, we must point out that investment is not all that matters. Other critical factors need to be considered in the exploitation of a country’s natural resources, which are owned by its people, and who should be widely consulted on its use. Today, sad experiences abound in many countries over the extraction by foreign companies of their natural wealth while sections of the population languish in poverty, and in the process even losing their land and water, in some instances. Some weeks ago, the Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment is reported to have revealed that, in one location alone, an estimated four (4) million ounces of gold are expected, and additionally, there may be copper. This is good news. We may have found, not forgetting Omai, the elusive El Dorado after all these years. But then our curiosity urges us to ask: What is Guyana’s take in this and other possible bountiful finds? Realistically, we recognize that investors expect profits on their investment; realistically too, a people seeks the optimum returns from the wealth they own. In our developing state, with poverty still uncomfortably high in spite of the steep reduction in recent years, with our expanding social needs, with so much still not done in infrastructure, and with an eye on the future, it seems that our natural and national wealth has a significant role in our present and future allround development. Those charged with the management of our resources may wish to be guided by such sentiments, and, moreover, not ignore the present experiences of other countries, often bitter and from history. Conclusion Comrades, as we celebrate May Day 2013, we should be mindful of the arduous path we travelled, the achievements we are proud of, and the goals yet to be reached. We still have many and various battles to fight. In our ranks, for example, are many who are underpaid due to the absence of a considered minimum wage. We must ensure that this issue is dealt with urgently. As workers, we need to be more assertive in demanding our rights, and insist that we be involved in the decision-making processes in our workplaces and at various levels of society. We need to work with all, and particularly with our natural allies, the farmers - for and in specific tasks, and also in general social matters. We cannot remain on the sidelines. We must speak up and speak out. As we know, international solidarity is an integral aspect of May Day. Among the GAWU’s expressions of solidarity, Socialist Cuba and the Palestinian peoples’ cause have a special place. They continue, and today even more so, to deserve our firmest solidarity. Today’s world conditions do not call for complacency, but for struggle. Capitalism/imperialism is in a bind, but still reckless and fighting fiercely. However, workers of the world have unfurled the banner of struggle. The spirit of Chicago 1886 lives in our times. We, too, in Guyana must stand up and be counted. We, too, seek a world order which is founded on peace, social and economic justice, and is free of oppression and exploitation. Let us, comrades, strive for a society and a global order where people, not profits, are of primary concern. Page Seven
Towards Workers’ Rights and Rewards
Address on May Day 2013 by GAWU President, Cde Komal Chand Introduction Comrades, another May Day is upon us. Like we are doing, millions of workers in about 80 countries on all continents are also celebrating this International Workers’ Day. The significance and traditions of May Day have endured in the working class movement for over 120 years now. It is a day to reflect on our struggles and victories; our setbacks and, indeed, the tasks and challenges ahead. It is a day which, in the spirit of Proletarian Internationalism, we express and send our heartfelt solidarity to the exploited and oppressed of the world. This year, our first expressions of solidarity are with our fellow workers of the developed capitalist world who, in their millions, find themselves unemployed, homeless, and increasingly poverty-stricken. We hail and support their courageous and pitched struggles against the twin-headed monster of inequality and austerity, unleashed on them by their ruling classes and spineless governments. In these struggles, we see that the fighting traditions that gave rise to May Day are alive and very much with us in this 21st century. Such struggles, as well, nurture our hopes for a better world, one which is just and founded in peace. At this time, we also extend revolutionary and fraternal greetings to all working people, youth and students; all peace activists; all democracyloving forces; all freedom fighters who, in their selfless actions, are sending serious warnings to the ruling elites in the developed and developing countries that a new day is dawning. To our colleagues in FITUG, we extend a warm embrace. Indeed, to all working people of Guyana and their families, we send May Day greetings on this historic day. The GAWU is of the view that we in Guyana have achieved much, but our accomplishments must not lull us into complacency. There is still much work to be done and many formidable challenges to face at several levels. But we must go forward; and, in our onward march, let us always remember the values of our unity and militancy. Comrades, we need to recall that this International Workers’ Day has its origins in the Chicago struggle of 1886 when 80,000 Chicagoans marched in the streets demanding 8 hours of work, 8 hours of leisure, and 8 hours of rest. Instead of meeting these just demands, the Establishment responded by brutal force, just as we see occurring today in several countries. Stemming from that brutal response, workers suffered injuries, imprisonment from trumped-up charges, and several leaders were martyred by the State. The sordid events in Chicago inspired the Second International, a body of socialist and labour parties, at their Congress in 1887 to resolve that May 01 every year be observed as International Workers’ Day. In 1930, the
Father of Trade Unionism in Guyana, Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow, and his Union, the British Guiana Labour Union (BGLU), began to observe this day; and from 1958, the Government approved May 01 as a national holiday. International Situation Comrades, as we meet here today, the world situation continues to be gravely troubled. It seems that ‘crisis’ is everywhere. Instead of extricating itself from the economic/financial stormy waters in which it has trapped itself, global capitalism seems to be getting deeper into crisis. At the same time, we are witnessing a growth and expansion of US imperialist aggressiveness. This aggressiveness is being driven by the USA’s known desire for world domination, containing China now-a-days, and control of the strategic natural resources found in developing countries. Increasingly these days, we read that US aggressive actions are joined by mainly Great Britain and France. More and more today, political analysts are
drawing attention to a return of colonialism, but with some new features. The old colonial culprits, defeated in freedom struggles by liberation fighters, are coming back with their plundering ways intact, as we observe in several countries. In fulfilling its geo-political agenda and its hegemonic designs, imperialist wars, conflicts and war threats are continuing. Behind nice-sounding justifications and deception, we can see the stark realities of their actions. Look what the US, its NATO allies and their puppets have done and are doing in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Palestine, Somalia, Mali, Syria; and now raising the war threat level in Iran, pursuing the doctrine of ‘Asia pivot’ in the Pacific, and extending their military presence and adventures on the African continent. The devastation, destruction of social amenities, war crimes, slaughter of children and women that imperialists’ military might has incurred in many of these countries are indescribable. Such atrocities and terror and violence must affect us as workers; indeed, must affect the conscience of humanity. On this May Day, GAWU unreservedly condemns imperialism’s wars, war-mongering, criminal atrocities, and flouting of international law. We reiterate our firm support for peace, for freedom fighters, and for those defending their political and economic sov-
ereignty. To those countries charting an anti-imperialist, independent course of development and facing blatant destabilisation activities from reactionary forces, as we presently see in Venezuela, we send our solidarity to them, and especially to the democratic forces of our neighbouring country. We send also our congratulations and best wishes to the newly-elected President Maduro, the successor of that indomitable Latin American leader, Hugo Chavez. Comrades, clearly, imperialism looms large as mankind’s main enemy. With an arsenal of diabolical weaponry, it struts the world stage, spreading destruction and instilling fear in all corners of our planet. Despite those subservient leaders who have found an accommodation with the capitalist/imperialist world order, resistance of the peoples are growing and are being manifested in a variety of ways. As the winds of change are picking up, the forces of reaction are finding themselves hard pressed to readily attain their objectives. There is every indication that the class struggles the world over are sharpening. Europe and North America have become hotbeds of fierce class battles. Today, the working people and students are fighting back against the harsh and heartless policies imposed on them by the ruling elites, and which are proving to be so ruinous to the millions and their families. For last year (2012) alone, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) estimates, some 75 million workers lost their jobs. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) meanwhile, reveals that there are currently some 397 million workers living in extreme poverty, and an additional 472 million who cannot meet their basic needs on a regular basis. In other words, 12 per cent of the world’s population live in families where at least one member is working but they still struggle to gain access to decent housing, food and other necessities. The latest reports reaching our attention point out that, in Britain, 350,000 hungry Britons turned to food banks last year for food; while, in the USA, a staggering 23 million households now rely on food stamps for survival. Such statistics clearly expose and question the claim by many neo-liberal economists about “an economic recovery”. On the contrary, those statistics are evidence that the developed world economy is still in the doldrums. While the systemic economic crisis persists, alarmingly, we hear about increasing incidents of assault on democratic norms, especially in the USA. Civil liberties are being eroded, surveillance of citizens is becoming widespread, due process of those detained is not respected, stop-and-search is prevalent, and President Obama asserts the right to determine which American citizen is targeted for assassination. The foundations of the Empire are shaking. The real capitalism is being increasingly exposed in all its nakedness. Continued on page seven
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