GAWU Combat - September/October 2019

Combat

Sugar production lagging Issue #5 Volume #40

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

September/October, 2019

- achievement of target appears unlikely

The GAWU has continued to follow, very closely and with great anxiety, the second sugar crop production. The Union learnt that as at October 24, production for the crop stood at 35,397 tonnes sugar.

Thus the industry is required to produce 40,446 tonnes sugar if it is to realize its target of 75,843 tonnes. Production at the individual estates was as follows:Estate AN BCF ICBU Total

Target Actual Deficit 39,543 17,123 22,420 23,284 9,821 13,463 13,016 8,453 4,563 75,843 35,397 40,446

With half of the scheduled crop weeks already completed, production at Albion, Blairmont and Uitvlugt estates stood at 43.3%, 42.2% and 64.9% respectively of their crop target. Taking into account the remaining scheduled weeks, it appears to us that the industry will not be able to realize its set target. The GAWU, taking an average of the weekly production over the last five (5) weeks, when the estates operated normally, has determined production would be as follows:Estate AN BCF ICBU Total

Target Estimate Deficit 39,543 30,395 9,148 23,284 19,269 4,015 13,016 11,615 1,401 75,843 61,279 14,564

We have also considered an extension of the crop until the third week of December, 2019, assuming there is fair weather for production, and have estimated production to reach as follows:Estate AN BCF ICBU Total

Target Estimate Deficit 39,543 34,187 5,356 23,284 20,450 2,834 13,016 13,016 0 75,843 67,653 8,190

While, in all likelihood, the Corporation will extend its crop as far as practicable, COMBAT Sept/Oct, 2019

our analysis at this time indicates that the extension will still result in a short fall of the crop target.

Information reaching the Union indicates that, contrary to previous statements by the Corporation, the factories continue to experience difficulties. In fact, some officials in GuySuCo have shared with us that they cannot understand what is really taking place. The GAWU has learnt that the factories suffer breakdowns many times not too long after they would have undergone their weekly maintenance. It brings into question what is taking place at the level of the management of the industry’s factories. What’s even more disheartening is that the Corporation, in recent times, has bolstered its factory operations department, it appears, that this unacceptable situation persists. It may well be the case of too many cooks spoiling the broth.

The GAWU has been informed that factory breakdowns during the ongoing second crop totalled 498 hours as follows:Albion Blairmont Uitvlugt

- - -

253 hours 96 hours 146 hours

While we expect the Corporation to tell us and the public that lack of investment is the main culprit, we, at the same time, must ask again what happened to the monies secured to re-capitalise the industry and to address the very issues that are popping up with so much regularity.

If our information is correct, we also must be concerned about the approach of the Management in addressing factory issues.

We learnt that the workers of the Uitvlugt factory, during the day-time hours on October 20, informed the management about a developing issue at the factory. The workers urged production

be stopped and the issue remedied. This suggestion was not considered. During the evening of October 20, with the issue becoming more pronounced, the workers again urged the management to stop the factory and allow the problem to be rectified. This request was again turned down.

When the factory was finally stopped on October 21, it took nearly 24 hours for the problem to be remedied, at some cost to the Corporation. The workers shared with us that had the factory been stopped when the issue was first noticed, it would have taken a few hours at most to fix the issue, and at far less cost and downtime.

At Albion, too, we have learnt that one issue regarding the boilers had to be fixed twice in a short time. Workers shared with us that, on the first occasion, appropriate time was not allowed for the curing process that was required. As a result, the issue re-appeared in a week’s time, and the factory had to be out of operation for nearly one (1) day. This is simply unacceptable and brings into obvious question the competence of some of the Corporation’s staffers.

At the end of the day, the workers are the biggest victims. The Corporation, we understand, has generally been satisfied with worker-turnout this crop. We also learnt that punt weights have generally been ac-

ceptable, except at Uitvlugt, where some further checks are necessary. It therefore seems to indicate that the workers are fulfilling their obligations, yet the estates cannot achieve their weekly targets, and thus workers are being denied their incentives. In some instances, estates have operated beyond their budgeted weekly production hours, and yet the weekly targets are not realized. Definitely, and undoubtedly, something is wrong and this is serving to daunt workers’ spirits when, at this time, they are giving their best efforts.

We urge the Corporation to critically examine the situation obtaining in the factories. As President David Granger did say during his recent visit to Albion Estate, “[w]e are not here to merely survive; we are here to thrive! We are here to guarantee employees’ livelihoods. We are here to guarantee sugar’s position in the national economy. We are here to safeguard the rural economy”. The GAWU believes also, at this time, that the Corporation needs to actively follow up the assurance given by Mr Granger as President since June this year, that “…the $30 billion syndicated bond that has been secured by the Special Projects Unit (SPU) of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) is transferred to GuySuCo within a short space of time, so that urgent needs can be met”.

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EDITORIAL

The long, confusing, walk to national and regional elections

In approximately four (4) months’ time, eligible voters will head to the polls to exercise their franchise; and, in so doing, they will choose a political party of their choice to form the next Government to lead our country. The upcoming elections should have really been held in March this year, following the successful passage of a No Confidence Motion in the National Assembly on December 21st, last year.

While, in normal circumstances, Governments abide by the consequences of the vote, we have come to learn and witness that nothing is normal now in our country. Rather than advance preparations for elections, we saw the Government engage in what could be described as a wild goose chase as it sought, futilely, to challenge the legality of the No Confidence vote. Of course the Judiciary brought some semblance back, and upheld the correctness of the vote.

Reasonably-minded persons felt that the exhaustion of the matter at the judicial level would have brought the unending procrastination of the inevitable to an end. This, as we came to learn, was not to be the case. The country and its people entered another rollercoaster of sorts when preconditions were laid down regarding the conduct of the elections. Of course there is a view that some elements of the ‘independent’ Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) were marching to the tune of the Government. Whether this is real or perceived is left to be seen, but the perception does not augur well for the credibility of that electoral body.

Dilly-dallying regarding the appointment of the Chairman of the Commission also persisted for reason/s that is/are unbeknownst at this time. As we know, the Government-imposed Chairman was removed after the courts found the move contrary to the Constitution. In the process of appointing a new Chairman, we even saw being proffered certain interpretations which have no resemblance to what existed in the Constitution. Nevertheless, that mountain was crossed and a consensual Chairman was appointed.

It was felt that, given the hurdles and obstacles that were overcome, elections would soon be with us. Again those hopes were dashed when there was insistence, from certain quarters that a new, supposedly credible voters list was needed.

Such an exercise is a protracted process.

Previous experiences have shown it can take as much as two (2) years before such exercise can be acceptably completed. A house-to-house registration process was set in motion, though after a few weeks brought to an end by the new Chairman.

The halting then brought new furore COMBAT

Sept/Oct, 2019

to the surface. Some contended that the partial house-to-house data be merged with the existing list of voters. It was argued that this approach would contaminate the sterilized and verified voters list, and it could well see further delays being encountered. This matter, at the time of writing, has not been fully decided, though most recent reports have indicated that the data obtained would be made available for public scrutiny. What that means is left to be seen.

At last, preparations for elections, which should have been held in March 2019 have begun. The GECOM has informed the President that it would not be ready for the conduct of elections until the end of February, 2020. This is indeed disturbing when it is recognized that the Commission at most should require no less than three (3) months of preparatory work, given Constitutional requirements.

The Commission has recently begun a period of Claims and Objections, which will allow for persons coming of age to be added to the list of registrants and for unqualified voters to be removed, in keeping with the Laws of Guyana. It also allows for persons to have incorrectly stated particulars properly amended. The period and nature of the exercise, like everything before, was not uneventful. The fact that the Commission’s Chairman had cause to amend the order regarding the Claims and Objections does not help in boosting the Commission’s credibility and impartiality.

At this time, efforts, it is said, are being pursued to ensure that elections are held on March 02, 2020, as proclaimed by the President. The elections proclamation by the President was not done willingly or freely. In fact it required loud public calls from the trade unions, the business sector, the religious community and others. The international community also weighed in and added their voice to the chorus calling for the setting of the elections’ date.

Of course there are views harbouring doubt about the date. Such sentiments are hard to dismiss, bearing in mind what we have seen since December 21st, 2018.

These elections have been deemed the Mother of All Elections. Whether this is so is left to be seen.

Campaigning will soon swing into high gear as the political parties seek to woo and convince supporters to back them. It is the right of each voter to exercise their choice without undue pressure, and to rationally consider their choice for the nation’s leaders. At this time, credible and experienced leadership is required as the country moves forward.

FITUG deeply concerned about rising crime

In recent times, pronouncements from officialdom have sought to communicate and indicate that criminal activities are on the decline. While our people are hearing one thing, they are seeing - and some are experiencing - an entirely different state of affairs. At the same time, we cannot ignore what appear to be wanton and reckless use of our roadways and the seeming disregard of all the rules of the road, resulting in the loss of life and limb as well.

Certainly, what the news has been saying, and what we have been hearing, demonstrates that we cannot give any credibility to the notion that crime is abating. The truth of the matter, as FITUG understands it, is that people are genuinely and sincerely concerned and very worried that they can be the next unwitting victim. Today, the situation has caused people to feel insecure being alone at home or venturing out for social activities. Certainly, our people ought not to be confined to living in perpetual fear of being attacked. This is not the way people should live, as it has serious implications for their well-being and psyche.

The Federation, reviewing the APNU+AFC 2015 Elections Manifesto, recognized a commitment to “[d]evelop a comprehensive Public Security plan”. The plan, among other things, was aimed to reduce “…the high rate of armed robberies, murders, piracy, human trafficking and domestic violence, while improving policing and maintaining police teams and identifying ways of ensuring that police officers spend more time deterring, detecting, preventing and investigating crime”.

Today it seems that the undertaking has gone through the window, like so many others made by the Coalition.

Undoubtedly, there is a critical need for the Guyana Police Force to proactive-

ly address what is clearly a frightening situation. The need for regular patrols, intelligence gathering, proactive police action, among other things cannot be underscored. These initiatives, among others, could be helpful to bring the situation under control. Of course we cannot fail to recognize that a lot of emphasis, in recent times, has been placed by the Guyana Police Force in augmenting the Presidential security detail. This, we hold, is an unnecessary utilization of valued and limited resources, and cannot be seen as helpful in denting criminal aspirations and plans.

The rising crime also cannot be delinked from what is taking place elsewhere in society. The Federation recently pointed out that the most recent Labour Force Survey prepared by the Bureau of Statistics indicated that unemployment rate rose from 12.2 per cent at the end of 2017 to 13.8 per cent at the end of 2018. In the same period, youth unemployment rose from 22.9 per cent to 25.6 per cent. The report also disclosed that earnings of workers declined during the period. This worrying trend cannot be ignored, as it certainly has an impact on crime in our society.

For a Government which possesses so many self-identified security experts, it is disheartening to take stock of the present crime situation. Clearly, there is an urgent need to address and arrest the declining situation in the interest of the people’s and nation’s well-being. We need to live with peace of mind and be able to go about our everyday lives without the prevailing anxieties. At this time, we look to those charged with security responsibilities to devise and implement credible and workable initiatives to put a brake on the harrowing situation our people must face day in, day out.

BLAIRMONT WORKERS CALL FOR PAY RISE: Workers of Blairmont Estate on November 01 staged a spirited picketing exercise as they called on the GuySuCo to approve a pay rise to them this year. The action was supported by the overwhelming majority of workers PAGE TWO

GuySuCo abandons meeting after sugar unions call for pay rise The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE), on October 29 at a meeting with GuySuCo Chief Executive Dr Harold Davis (junior) and Finance and Marketing Director, Mr Paul Bhim, among other officials of the Corporation, continued their struggle as they pressed, demanded, and called on the sugar company to

approve a pay rise for sugar workers this year. The Unions’ delegation, which aggregately numbered some 30 workers and union officials, attached to their clothing small placards highlighting the need for the Corporation to grant a wage/salary increase to sugar workers.

The meeting began with a presentation by the Corporation’s Finance and Marketing Director, and during the course of interaction, the Unions’ delegation

President snubs sugar workers

President David Granger, by letter of October 04, has responded to the GAWU and the nation’s sugar workers following the submission of a petition by sugar workers calling on him and his Administration to approve a pay rise to them. The petition, which was supported by some 3,500 workers, has called on the President to recognize the plight of the workers who have been severely hard-pressed by the contemporary realities of life. It is probably one of the most subscribed petitions ever received by the President or any President for that matter. It undoubtedly, in our view, should have attracted profound contemplation and serious consideration of the expressions. This, however, it appears was not the case and rather a robotic, stereotype response was provided.

The President’s response which reached the GAWU on October 10, almost a week after his correspondence is dated, informed that the petition has been forwarded to the GuySuCo. While the President did not share the rationale for his actions, he said he awaited advice from the Corporation on the way forward.

The response of the President is hardly what the workers wanted to hear especially taking account of the situation they and their family face. Certainly, the sugar workers were hopeful that the President would have displayed decisive leadership and, through his influence, ensure that their pay was improved for the first time in the life of his Administration. This appears not to be the case and there is little COMBAT Sept/Oct, 2019

hope that the Corporation would provide a positive indicator to the Administration on the matter unless there is a clear mandate from the powers-that-be. Of course, the Administration has already signalled publicly that workers of the State would be benefitting from pay rises and the continued exclusion of the sugar workers could only be seen as discriminatory.

The demands by the sugar workers to receive an improvement in pay are not without sincere merit and justification.

The GAWU has pointed out, on several occasions, how far the earnings of sugar workers have fallen in recent times.

Of course, as is now well-known, in the same period the cost-of-living has ascended greatly and those developments have placed, indeed, heavy burdens on the backs of the workers.

The apparent snub by the President as he ignores the cries, plight and circumstances of our nation’s sugar workers represents another slap in the face of the hard-working and dedicated employees of the industry. It is simply saddening and upsetting when one considers the treatment of the workers during the life of the current Administration. It is a far cry from the embrace they would have received prior to the incumbent Administration taking office. Today, all those commitments the workers would have heard have simply become meaningless and the promises for betterment have all but been dashed. As we consider the situation, it is apt to recollect that once bitten, twice shy.

donned their placards. The Corporation almost immediately objected, contending that our placards were not allowed on the Company’s premises. Both the GAWU and the NAACIE pointed out that our respective delegations were not disruptive to the meeting. In fact, our delegations remained present in their seats listening attentively to the presentation. At no time was the GuySuCo team prevented from speaking. The Corporation, nevertheless, insisted that we abandon our placards, but our Unions, on principled grounds, refused to put away our slogans. We contended that we were merely expressing our views, which are not different from what we have shared in the past with the Corporation and publicly as well. We also pointed out that our actions were not in violation of any industrial relations tenet, as we maintained our stance.

Moreover, we pointed out to GuySuCo that the Freedom of Expression was a sacred and highly-held constitutional right, and one it should not seek to undermine.

It did not escape our attention that, in recent times in other arenas of our nation, we have seen concerted attempts to shut down our expressions by our people. It appeared to us that the Corporation was joining the bandwagon as it sought to quell our Unions’ expressions.

The demand by the Corporation to put

away our slogans, we felt, was an inconsiderate and unreasonable request. It is disheartening for us to recognize that a state-owned Company is seeking to apparently muzzle the expressions of its workers. We inveled the Corporation for better sense to prevail and for the meeting to continue. GuySuCo, nevertheless, decided to disregard our sincere and valid contentions and went on to abandon the meeting. Our Unions, as concerned stakeholders, were eager to engage the Corporation on its plan, and cancellation of the meeting by the state-owned company was an unfortunate development.

It is now a well-known, and a ignominious fact that sugar workers’ pay has remain unchanged since 2014. During the now more than 1,800 days that have gone by, the cost-of-living have risen significantly. Official statistics has confirmed that the cost of food, for instance, has risen by 17 per cent, with several staple food items going up in excess of 20 per cent.

During the period as well, several long standing conditions of work enjoyed by sugar workers have simply been ignored by the present Management of GuySuCo. The confluence of a pay freeze and suspension of other benefits has hit workers and their families hard, as their take home pay has fallen greatly.

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Burn, neoliberalism, burn

INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL

By Pepe Escobar Neoliberalism is – literally – burning. And from Ecuador to Chile, South America, once again, is showing the way.

Against the vicious, one-size-fits-all IMF austerity prescription, which deploys weapons of mass economic destruction to smash national sovereignty and foster social inequality, South America finally seems poised to reclaim the power to forge its own history.

Blowback against what David Harvey has splendidly conceptualized as accumulation by dispossession is, and will continue to be, a bitch. It will eventually reach Brazil – which as it stands continues to be torn to pieces by Pinochetist ghosts. Brazil, eventually, after immense pain, will rise up again. After all, the excluded and humiliated all across South America are finally discovering they carry a Joker inside themselves.

The question posed by the Chilean street is stark: “What’s worse, to evade taxes or to invade the subway?” It’s all a matter of doing the class struggle math. Chile’s GDP grew 1,1% last year while the profits of the largest corporations grew ten times more. It’s not hard to find from where the huge gap was extracted. The Chilean street stresses how water, electricity, gas, health, medicine, transportation, education, the salar (salt flats) in Atacama, even the glaciers were privatized.

That’s classic accumulation by dispossession, as the cost of living has become unbearable for the overwhelming majority of 19 million Chileans, whose average monthly income does not exceed $500.

Paul Walder, director of the Politika portal and an analyst for the Latin-American Center of Strategic Analysis (CLAE), notes how less than a week after the end of protests in Ecuador – which forced neoliberal vulture Lenin Moreno to ditch a gas price hike – Chile entered a very similar cycle of protests.

Walder correctly defines Chile’s PresiCOMBAT Sept/Oct, 2019

dent Sebastian Pinera as the turkey in a long-running banquet that involves the whole Chilean political class. No wonder the mad-as-hell Chilean street now makes no difference between the government, the political parties and the police. Pinera, predictably, criminalized all social movements; sent the army to the streets for unmitigated repression; and installed a curfew.

Pinera is Chile’s 7th wealthiest billionaire, with assets valued at $2.7 billion, spread out in airlines, supermarkets, TV, credit cards and football. He’s a sort of turbo-charged Moreno, a neoliberal Pinochetist. Pinera’s brother, Jose, was actually a minister under Pinochet, and the man who implemented Chile’s privatized welfare system – a key source of social disintegration and despair. And it’s all interlinked: current Brazilian Finance Minister Paulo Guedes lived and worked in Chile at the time, and now wants to repeat the absolutely disastrous experiment in Brazil. The bottom line is that the economic “model” that Guedes wants to impose in Brazil has totally collapsed in Chile.

Chile’s top resource is copper. Copper mines, historically, were owned by the US, but then were nationalized by President Salvador Allende in 1971. Pinochet’s dictatorship later re-privatized the mines.

The largest of them all, Escondida, in the Atacama desert – which accounts for 9% of the world’s copper – belongs to Anglo-Australian giant Bhp Billiton and at least two-thirds of income generated by Chilean copper goes not to the Chilean people, but to foreign multinationals.

Before Chile, Ecuador was semi-paralyzed: inactive schools, no urban transport, food shortages, rampant speculation, serious disturbances on oil exports.

Under fire by the mobilization of 25,000 indigenous peoples in the streets, President Lenin Moreno cowardly left a power void in Quito, transferring the seat of

government to Guayaquil. Indigenous peoples took over the governance in many important cities and towns. The National Assembly was AWOL for almost two weeks, without the will to even try to solve the political crisis.

By announcing a state of emergency and a curfew, Moreno laid out a red carpet for the Armed Forces – and Pinera duly repeated the procedure in Chile. The difference is that in Ecuador Moreno bet on Divide-and-Rule between the indigenous peoples’ movements and the rest of the population while Pinera resorts to outright brute force.

The clearest case of total neoliberal failure in South America is Argentina. Less than two months ago in Buenos Aires, I saw the vicious social effects of the peso in free fall, inflation at 54%, a de facto food emergency and the impoverishment of even solid sectors of the middle class.

Mauricio Macri’s government literally burned most of the $58 billion IMF loan – there’s still $5 billion to arrive. Macri’s economic model could not but be Pinera’s – actually Pinochet’s, where public services are run as a business. A key connection between Macri and Pinera is the ultra-neoliberal Freedom Foundation sponsored by Mario Vargas Llosa, who at least boasts the redeeming quality of having been a decent novelist a long time ago.

Macri, a millionaire disciple of Ayn Rand and one incapable of displaying empathy towards anyone, is essentially a cipher, pre-fabricated by his Ecuadorian guru Jaime Duran Barba as a robotic product of data mining, social networks and focus groups. A hilarious take on his insecurities may be found in La Cabeza de Macri: Como Piensa, Vive y Manda el Primer Presidente de la No Politica, by Franco Lindner.

Among myriad shenanigans, Macri is indirectly linked to fabulous money laundering machine HSBC. The president of HSBC in Argentina was Gabriel Martino. In 2015, four thousand Argentine accounts worth $3.5 billion were discovered at HSBC in Switzerland. This spectacular capital flight was engineered by the bank. Yet Martino was essentially saved by Macri, and became one of his top advisers.

All eyes now should be on Bolivia. As of this writing, President Evo Morales won the presidential elections in the first round – obtaining, by a slim margin, the necessary 10% spread for a candidate to win if he does not obtain the 50% plus one of the votes. Morales essentially got it right at the end, when votes from rural

zones and from abroad were fully counted, and the opposition had already started to hit the streets to apply pressure. Not surprisingly, the OAS – servile to US interests – has proclaimed a “lack of trust in the electoral process”.

Evo Morales represents a project of sustainable, inclusive development, and crucially, autonomous from international finance. No wonder the whole Washington Consensus apparatus hates his guts.

Economy Minister Luis Arce Catacora cut to the chase: “When Evo Morales won his first election in 2005, 65% of the population was low income, now 62% of the population has access to a medium income.”

The opposition, without any project except wild privatizations, and no concern whatsoever for social policies, is left to yell, “Fraud!”, but this could take a very nasty turn in the next few days. In the tony suburbs of southern La Paz, class hate against Evo Morales is the favourite sport: the President is referred to as “indio”, a “tyrant” and “ignorant”. Cholos of the Altiplano are routinely defined by white landowning elites in the plains as an “evil race”.

None of that changes the fact that Bolivia is now the most dynamic economy in Latin America, as stressed by top Argentine analyst Atilio Boron.

The campaign to discredit Morales, which is bound to become even more vicious, is part of imperial 5G war, which, Boron writes, totally obliterates “the chronic poverty that the absolute majority of the population suffered for centuries”, a state that always “maintained the population under total lack of institutional protection” and the “pillaging of natural wealth and the common good”.

Of course the spectre of IMF vulture ventures won’t vanish in South America like a charm. Even as the usual suspects, via World Bank reports, now seem “concerned” about poverty; Scandinavians offer the Nobel Prize on Economics to three academics studying poverty; and Thomas Piketty, in Capital and Ideology, tries to disassemble the hegemonic justification for accumulation of wealth.

What still remains absolutely off-limits for the guardians of the current world-system is to really investigate hardcore neoliberalism as the root cause of wealth hyper-concentration and social inequality. It’s not enough to offer Band-Aids anymore. The streets of South America are alight. Blowback is now in full effect.

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INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL

The US double standard in Venezuela vs. Honduras

By Steve Ellner & Teri Mattson-Jacobin The recent conviction of Tony Hernández for massive cocaine smuggling in a federal court case, in which his brother, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, was an unindicted co-conspirator, demonstrates one thing beyond a doubt: Honduras is a narco-state. The equally compelling evidence of widespread corruption, electoral fraud, and savage repression confirms Honduras’s status as a rogue state, and begs comparison with Venezuela, which has faced similar accusations.

This is just one example of the notorious inconsistencies of US foreign policy, dating back to the beginning of the Cold War. Under Trump, these inconsistencies and gaps between rhetoric and practice have widened.

Consider the democratic credentials of presidents whom Trump lavishly praises while condemning Maduro for allegedly undemocratic behaviour: Rodrigo Duterte (the Philippines), Jair Bolsonaro (Brazil), Prince Mohammad bin Salman (Saudi Arabia); and Andrzej Duda (Poland). Many European leaders have harshly criticized these regimes for their blatantly undemocratic behaviour.

President Juan Orlando Hernández was accused of receiving a million-dollar bribe from Mexico’s El Chapo in the trial of Tony Hernández, who was found guilty on counts of “Cocaine Importation Conspiracy” and “Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices”. Yet, just one day after the trial ended, US charge d’affaires in Tegucigalpa, Colleen Hoey, was photographed at a public gathering smiling alongside the president.

COMBAT Sept/Oct, 2019

Compare this solid case against Honduras with that against Venezuela.

November 2015 saw the arrest of two of Venezuelan First Lady Cilia Flores’s nephews in Haiti in a sting operation by the US Drug Enforcement Agency.

Both received an eighteen-year prison sentence in US court, although they were not linked to a cartel.

Honduras also compares unfavourably in the area of electoral fraud. The November 2017 presidential election suffered a thirty-six-hour delay in ballot counting when center-leftist candidate Salvador Nasralla had taken a decisive lead. When the process resumed, the election swung in favour of Hernández, the incumbent.

Venezuela’s last presidential election held in May 2018 saw a 46 percent voter turnout despite a boycott by most, though not all, of the major opposition parties. The opposition’s objections to the electoral process centered on unfair practices, but did not, for the most part, consist of allegations that votes were not properly counted or that voting was not secret.

Venezuela’s record on human rights has been denounced on many grounds with well-founded evidence. The government has jailed opposition leaders, and security forces have clashed with protesters in 2014 and 2017, resulting in nearly two hundred deaths in total. An objective evaluation, however, needs to consider context.

On both occasions, urban areas were paralyzed for four months, hundreds of barricades built, and arms used by protesters resulted (in 2014) in the death of six national guardsmen and two policemen, while military and police installations were fired upon and overrun. On August 4, 2018,

two drones attempted to assassinate President Maduro.

One can only imagine the response of other governments in the face of similar tactics.

In Honduras, President Hernandez’s security forces are not victims of violence — they are perpetrators. The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) report issued in March stated: “Impunity is pervasive, including for human rights violations, as shown by the modest progress made in the prosecution and trial of members of the security forces for the human rights violations committed in the context of the 2017 elections.”

Why are countries like Venezuela on Washington’s hit list while undemo-

cratic ones like Honduras receive favourable treatment? One explanation is that while Venezuela has pursued anti-neoliberal policies, Honduras since the US-supported overthrow of President Manuel Zelaya ten years ago has implemented neoliberal policies. This includes the privatization of health and water this year, which was met with street protests that were harshly repressed.

The Honduras-Venezuela comparison shows how self-serving and conspicuous Washington’s role as judge and cop has become under Trump.

Although interventionism in favour of US interests has been a long-standing component of Washington’s foreign policy, it is now being applied with steroids.

By Daily Sabah

fense minister, and Saudi Arabia’s allies launched Operation Decisive Storm in March 2015. The ongoing war has resulted in the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, with an estimated 24 million people, close to 80% of the population, are in need of assistance and protection in Yemen, according to the U.N. The Saudi-led coalition is continuing to target residential areas, with the latest U.N. report showing that 729 Yemeni children were killed or injured during 2018. Save the Children reported in March that 37 Yemeni children a month had been killed or injured by foreign bombs in the last year. Many atrocities have been reported so far, which have revealed multiple violations of human rights

250K Yemenis at brink of death from hunger

As the brutal war in Yemen continues to worsen the humanitarian situation for civilians in the country, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that 250,000 Yemenis are on the brink of death from hunger.

“The ongoing conflict and its resulting economic crisis are the key factors behind food insecurity in Yemen,” WHO said, adding that around 20 million Yemenis were “food insecure.”

“Nearly a quarter of a million people are on the brink of starvation, if not urgent intervention,” the humanitarian organization stressed.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is the former Saudi de-

PAGE FIVE

Blairmont factory workers protest to demand fair and equitable treatment

The factory workers of Blairmont Estate were forced into protest actions after the GuySuCo chose to ignore their valid and principled concerns regarding the breakdown of the system regarding promotions at the estate. The workers were also peeved about the several inaccuracies the Corporation made regarding the workers’ actions.

The issue revolved around a decision by the Blairmont Estate Management to promote a newly-hired employee ahead of other long serving employees of the estate. GuySuCo, in seeking to cover its tracks, had said the worker was “…a skilled tradesman, and upon his confirmation, was appointed to a Class1 in the Factory”. But GuySuCo officials, during an engagement with the Union, admitted that the worker was employed as a Class 2 worker, and later confirmed in that post.

The Corporation also futilely sought to sow seeds of division, as it alleged that the Blairmont factory workers were averse to the promoted worker. The workers had shared they hadn’t anything against the worker, but were concerned about a breakdown in the system regarding promotions at the estate.

The workers’ anxieties grew after conflicting information was provided regarding the issue. At one time, they were informed the worker being promoted was recently tested and qualified for promotion. When the Corporation was asked to share the date and results of the test, another explanation was offered, wherein the worker in question had been tested some years ago and those results were the basis of the promotion. Our Union, during the engagement with the GuySuCo, reiterated our request to view a copy of the purported test results. The GuySuCo adamantly refused. The workers also pointed out that the Corporation would usually advertise such opportunities for promotion, to allow interested and qualified workers to apply. In this case, the COMBAT Sept/Oct, 2019

workers shared that this wasn’t done, which further served to upset them. Additionally, the Collective Labour Agreement between the Union and the sugar company explicitly requires that appropriate vacancy notices be placed in prominent points. Of importance, too, is that the GuySuCo personnel manual sets out, without ambiguity the process regarding promotion of workers. The relevant section of the manual, written solely and wholly by the Corporation, was apparently not adhered to. When the Union put this to the Corporation’s representatives, the Union was told, astonishingly, that the Company’s Executive has a right to veto the policy. It brings into question the usefulness of this and any other policy and agreement if it can be ignored and altered at the whims and fancies of those who are charged with upholding them. It seems, that the Corporation is taking a cue from its shareholder, which in recent times has been disregarding and undermining several Constitutional provisions.

GuySuCo had also claimed that no worker had expressed interest. This, again, has been refuted by the workers.

In fact, a worker had made an application some two years ago, and there were seven workers in the estate’s employ who could be deemed suitable candidates.

The GuySuCo also critcised the involvement of the Union central officers. Such criticism has no basis, and is now associated with the outlandish new GuySuCo. Our Union, apart from its duty-bound obligation to the workers, recognizes the workers’ valid and principled concerns. It seems the Corporation is seeking to have our Union ignore the concerns of our members. The GuySuCo is well aware of our proud history of standing with, and for, the workers. We are in no way going to change our longstanding and proudly held principles, which have served us well now, in the past and present, and undoubtedly will so do in the future too. We

are also accused of dividing the workers. This, again, is another falsehood being peddled by the state-owned sugar company.

Our Union has encouraged and promoted the togetherness of workers, recognizing the value of standing together in winning our just demands for respect and betterment. Indeed, if any division is to take place, it will only be the consequence of the discriminatory policy of the Administration.

Our Union was charged with being averse to the re-employment of redundant sugar workers. This, of course, is far from the truth, bearing in mind the hardships they and their families face. At the same time, we contend the hardship that now stalk the communities and people of the shuttered estates is a policy which should have never been pursued in the first place. The difficulties of 2019 were forewarned; yet in clear defiance of those valid concerns, the Corporation was a main cheerlead-

er calling and advocating at all costs, for the closure of estates. Those plans and the accompanying hardships spawned, we should not fail to recall, were devised many years ago by a now former CEO of the Corporation, and received the support of the listening ears of those who comprise the current caretaker Administration. Today, the GuySuCo should not behave like a saint and seek to promote itself as a voice of reason.

The workers’ actions prompted the intervention of the Department of Labour.

Arising from that intervention, made under the Chairmanship of Chief Labour, Occupational Safety and Health Officer, Charles Ogle, the parties appended a Terms of Resumption which saw the workers resuming work and the matter being addressed at the concilatory level under the chairmanship of the Department. The first concilation meeting was held on October 27, when the two (2) sides put forward their relevant contentions. The Department has requested certain information from both sides, in an effort to consider fully the respective presentations.

NIS woes cannot be disconnected from sugar minimization The October 10 Guyana Times reported that the General Manager of the National Insurance Scheme, Ms Holly Greaves, lamented the effects of the shrinking formal workforce in Guyana. The NIS GM said at this time that the Scheme receives contributions from “…173,758 active employed persons and 10,734 active self-employed persons”. She went on to point out that “[t]he decline in the active employed population does not augur well for the future of the scheme…”.

The Scheme’s 2016 Annual Report, at page 100, said: “In 2017, there was a reorganization of GUYSUCO, leading to the closure of several estates. It is likely that this may have a material impact on the contributions receivable by the Scheme”. It appears that the Scheme has already begun to feel the material impact.

While not wanting to blow our own trumpet, the reality that the NIS faces today was anticipated by the GAWU and drawn to the Government’s attention.

The GAWU, in its presentation to the Government of Guyana on February 17, 2017, pointed out that, “[t]he reduction in formal employment and its implications for the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the National Insurance Scheme (NIS); the effects can be debilitating, especially for the latter”.

Of course the magnitude of the impact would have been better quantified had the

sincere suggestion to pursue a socio-economic impact assessment been pursued.

On that score, we had told the Government in February, 2017 that, “…decisions cannot be made in a slipshod manner, as the consequences and repercussions can be serious, if not disastrous, for our people and nation.” That suggestion was bluntly refused by the representatives of the Government, who engaged the Trade Unions in the industry and the Political Opposition regarding the future of the sugar industry. In fact, Minister Khemraj Ramjattan astoundingly told the Unions and the Opposition to conduct the study, since we were making the suggestion.

The situation which the NIS now faces is one for a great degree of concern and worry. It should be pointed out, too, that many of the affected workers are probably qualified for NIS pensions, which they will seek when they obtain pensionable age. In the meantime, the Scheme has lost the benefit of their contributions for many years, though it is indebted to them come retirement.

The reality of the NIS is one of the many consequences of the minimization of the sugar industry. It is an ignominious legacy that is now bequeathed to the current and future generations of Guyanese.

PAGE SIX

Apparent threat to freedom of expression is a concerning sign – FITUG

The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) cannot help but be worried after it considered media reports and social media posts regarding a protest by persons at Cornelia Ida, West Coast Demerara. From the media, we learnt that those gathered were, in keeping with their Constitutional right, expressing concern regarding the clear threats posed to the nation by the now illegitimate Coalition Government, and the consequences of those threats for our democracy.

The protest took place outside an activity which President David Granger was scheduled to address. An unusually high security contingent was present, according to reports. It has been estimated that as many as 140 uniformed police officers were present, and unusual security precautions were employed. Certainly, the enforcement measures seemed in our view to be excessive, considering that the protestors, from what we saw, did not appear to be threatening to life, limb or property.

Prior to the President’s arrival, videos emerged about members of the Guyana Police Force engaged in the removal of black flags to signify the seeming death of democracy in Guyana. While we understand that prior permission must be sought from the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) regarding the erection of paraphernalia on lantern posts erected by the company, the use of members of the police force to remove the flags, which, from our perspective posed no real security challenge, is a strange and unfortunate development.

We know, too, that some of the picketers were detained and later released without any charge. We hasten to wonder whether this was a means of intimidation or opCOMBAT Sept/Oct, 2019

pression. Neither is a welcome feature of our times. Also, some of those present reportedly sustained injuries as the security apparatus apparently attempted to stifle their expressions for no rational reason.

This, again, cannot be condoned in our society.

Given all factors at our disposal, we see no justification for the extraordinary security presence. Guyanese, once behaving in a lawful manner, have the right to demonstrate their agreement or disagreement on matters. Certainly, the President, prior to taking office, participated in, and led, a number of picketing exercises without restriction imposed. This should be the case at all times. There should be no measure to suffocate that inalienable hard-fought-and-won right.

In recent times, the President’s presence has attracted a significant security presence. That presence must have come at a great financial cost to the State. At a time when the nation is gripped by rising criminality, as we see and hear about daily incidents of robbery, banditry and other violent criminal acts, the attention of our policemen and women is directed elsewhere.

The Federation, nevertheless, is most concerned about this trampling upon our constitutional rights. It is the latest in the evolution of disrespect meted out to our people and our nation in recent times.

The continued disrespect for the Constitution and the sacred rights of our people is simply unjustifiable, and harks back to a dark period in our country. It is not in the interest of current and future generations of Guyanese to experience a time that belongs in our past. That time was a sordid chapter in our history, and one that should remain in the past as we, as a nation, strive to go forward.

More hardships for workers as water rates go up – FITUG

The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) could not ignore that the Guyanese people will see from October 01, another burden placed on their overburdened backs as the Guyana Water Inc (GWI) prepares to impose another round of water rate hikes. The newest increase has seen the cost of water, in the Land of Many Waters rising significantly.

The Federation has calculated that unmetered customers will see their monthly rates going up by approximately 200 per cent as they, apart from the increased charges, will also have to pay 14 per cent as VAT. For the ordinary workers and their families, it’s a cost they can ill afford, but a service they cannot do without either. Indeed, the huge increase in the cost of water pales in comparison to the Coalition’s exuberant utterances about pay rises it imposed on public sector workers.

Of course, as the FITUG knows all too well, the workers of the sugar sector have not even benefitted from any pay rise since the Coalition took office.

The imposition of higher water rates also cannot be disconnected from the multitude of hikes in the cost of Government services; the expansion of the range of goods and services that attract VAT, and the withdrawal of useful and helpful pub-

lic support to our working people. Indeed, through direct and indirect means, our working people are required to meet these new impositions. The boastful explanations we have seen in recent and previous times about higher tax revenues are a sordid indicators of how much more has been extracted from the Guyanese people.

Indeed, the cost-of-living has risen tremendously. Data emanating from the most recently available Bureau of Statistics’ Statistical Bulletin indicates that between March, 2016 and September, 2018, the cost of white rice has risen by 30%, flour went up by 29%, sugar was up by 27%, cooking gas rose by 24% and salt increase by 83%. Indeed the meagre improvements workers were given have been eaten away. At the same time, the Bureau’s Guyana Labour Force Survey Report 2018, released in June this year, indicates that unemployment rate rose from 12.2 per cent at the end of 2017 to 13.8 per cent at the end of 2018. In the same period, youth unemployment rose from 22.9 per cent to 25.6 per cent. The report also disclosed that earnings of workers declined during the period.

When taken together, the situation for the Guyanese working class does not appear to be rosy.

The G AW U w a s m o s t s a d dened on the passing of former General Secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Gurudas Das Gupta, on October 31 at age 83. Apart from his trade union leadership, he was also a former Deputy General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI), and was an indefatigable crusader against corporate corruption and economic offences.

As a leader of the AITUC, he never failed to advance the cause of the Indian workers, and supported the struggles of all workers of the world. During his 17-year tenure as the General Secretary of AITUC, he led many struggles of the trade unions and played a major role in uniting the various trade unions in favour of

the urgent demands of the workers. That togetherness has seen the working class of India, on several occasions, taking nationwide strike action in defence of their rights and advancing their gains. He was a pillar of strength to the trade unions in banking, insurance and the oil industry.

He was also known as a captivating speaker and was a Member of Parliament for quarter of a century. As an MP, he chaired the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Labour Ministry on the Conditions of Agricultural Workers, during which he advocated social security and minimum wages for the country’s agricultural workers. Das Gupta was attracted to communist ideals as a student, and began his political career as a student activist in the 1950s.

The GAWU, at this time, extends its sincerest condolences to the wife, daughter, other relatives and friends of Cde Gurudas Das Gupta. The GAWU also sends its sympathies to the AITUC, which was celebrating its centennial anniversary when its former General Secretary passed on.

May the work and legacy of Das Gupta serve as an inspiration and guide to his comrades as they confront the various issues in these current challenging times.

GAWU pays tribute to renowned Indian Trade Unionist Gurudas Das Gupta

PAGE SEVEN

Minister Jordan and his colleagues pushing sugar workers into poverty

The GAWU saw in an article appearing in the September 24 issue of the Guyana Chronicle, Minister of Finance Winston Jordan promising workers in the public sector a pay rise this year. The Chronicle quoted Minister Jordan as saying “[p]ublic servants will get a salary increase this year and a bigger increase in 2020…”. For the beleaguered public servants, hard pressed by the circumstances of contemporary life in Guyana, the promised increase must have been welcome news.

How much the increase will be able to alleviate the difficulties of life that public servants find themselves in is an entirely different question altogether.

The Minister is also reported to have said that the specific increase would be a product of collective bargaining between the Administration and the GPSU. However, we saw only recently the GPSU President Mr Patrick Yarde questioning the sincerity of the Administration’s commitment to collective bargaining. It also did not escape our attention that the Minister did not hesitate to say that if the ongoing discussions “…do not come to a decisive conclusion, the administration… will pay something”. It goes to show that a tiger can never lose its stripes.

From the article, our Union also noticed that the Minister said the Government was concerned about “…providing a viable, livable wage…”. But while the Minister speaks about giving employees in the State sector a pay rise, a move we do not oppose, he and his colleagues in the now questionable Government have decided, without any remorse it seems, not to give the workers of the State-owned sugar sector a rise in pay since they took office.

Today, the nation’s sugar workers, the GAWU must reiterate, are essentially working for 2014 pay though times and circumstances have since changed dramatically. We need not remind the nation of the several measures implemented by the APNU+AFC that have heightened the cost-of-living. We need not remind, too, that under the Coalition Administration, long-standing benefits and other conditions of work enjoyed by sugar workers were simply ignored or suspended altogether. It was, for the GAWU, not surprising, though saddening, to see that between 2014 and 2017 sugar workers were taking home some $284,000 less per annum. That is nearly $24,000 less per month, or $6,000 less per week. Given the situation now-a-days, it is neither hard nor difficult to imagine what that has done to the well-being of the sugar workers and their families.

So, today, while the Minister boasts about a living wage, a concept our nation should embrace, he forgets unashamedly that during his time as a national leader, he and his colleagues, by their actions, have pushed workers near to, or beyond, the poverty line. He fails to mention that they have been treated like step-children, not deserving of equal treatment and pay.

Today, the promises heard about 20 per cent increase that was shouted out by now-a-days Government officials during the 2015 elections campaign ring hollow.

Today, they and their families are forced to pinch every dollar as they struggle daily to make ends meet. Today, the workers of the sugar industry have retrogressed rather than progressed under the ‘Good Life’ Government.

GAWU recalls the contributions of Cde Cyril Belgrave The G AW U joined in paying tribute and recognizing the valued and valuable contribution of the late Cde Cyril Calvin Belgrave to our nation, and more so to its working-people. Cde Belgrave wore many hats, including that of a trade unionist.

Belgrave, it is recalled, following his schooling, began working at Stampa in the Essequibo River, at a timber grant operated by the Colonial Development Corporation. He spent a year there before returning to Georgetown, where he did a number of odd jobs, including working at a number of bakeries in Georgetown.

He finally went to work on the waterfront, beginning at Bookers’ Thom and Cameron wharf in 1953. He was a registered waterfront worker by 1956, and remained on the waterfront until he retired. During that time, he did a number of jobs, from labourer to operator of a number of mechanical equipment, including cranes and forklifts. He was also a member of the Georgetown City Council for a number of years before entering Parliament.

Cde Belgrave began his association with the trade union movement as an active member of the Guyana Labour Union (GLU), joining the Union in 1955. He rose through the ranks of the waterfront branch, having worked first as shop stew-

ard, then vice-chairman, and then taking over from former president of the Guyana Trades Union Congress, the late Samuel Walker, in 1984 as President of the GLU. His involvement in the movement was fuelled by the exploitative practices of the employer class, and he was steeled in his defence of the ordinary man and woman.

His trade union connection brought him to the realization that genuine and profound change in the interest of the working class could be achieved only at the political level. This led him to becoming involved in the political arena. Through this aspect of his activism, he rose to become a Member of Parliament, advocating in the August house on behalf of the working people.

Though, as time went by, his trade union involvement waned, his commitment to the working class persevered and even became stronger. He never lost touch with the sentiments of the ordinary people. Cde Belgrave had the distinction of being the first Chairman of the Trade Union Recognition and Certification Board (TURCB). It was indeed a fitting appointment, especially given the long and sordid history of the Trade Union Recognition Act, which gave rise to the TURCB. As the first Chairman, several advances were made during his stint, and the workers of Guyana benefited.

The GAWU, at this time, joins in extending its sincerest condolences and sympathies to the children, grand children, other relatives and friends of Cde Cyril Belgrave. While we know this is indeed a sad period for the Belgrave family, we urge them to take heart and solace in the fact that he lived a fulfilling life, and his work and activities helped in making the lives of many Guyanese better and Guyana a better place.

Sugar workers as their heighten their calls for a pay rise this year, have staged vigils to draw attention to the plight they face. At Blairmont (left) and Albion (right) vigil activities were organised on October 31 and November 01, 2019. The activities saw the partcipation of a number of workers with the candles and banners called on the GuySuCo to listen to their cries and understand their realities as they haven’t benefitted from any rise in pay since 2015.

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: INFO@GAWUGY.COM WEBSITE: WWW.GAWUGY.COM