Caribbean Trade Union Movement Under Threat, Workers Must Unite
By William Skinner
As COVID-19 exposes the frailties of the regional economies, workers must maintain vigilance in defending the gains made in the post-independence era. Many unscrupulous employers and their complicit political minions will use this period to undermine the trade union movement. Weak governments that have put all their economic targets in the tourism basket, are now realizing, as was predicted by progressive thinkers, that it is a visionless strategy, dependent on a fragile industry. Glamour does not equate to sustainable development and cannot replace socio economic reality.
We made a conscious decision to abandon agriculture and failed
to develop, agro based industries. The food basket, that Dr. Eric Williams spoke
about in the 1970s, never materialized and Guyana, with its vast agricultural
resources, never became the breadbasket of the region. We allowed the
destruction of small farmers and basically ignored our rural agricultural
communities.
Chasing butterflies by embracing so-called global developmental
models, have been our undoing. It has taken the debilitating shock of the COVID
pandemic, to make us at least recognize, if not accept, that our economies need
comprehensive reform. Such reform should not be designed by international
lending agencies, such as the International Monetary Fund, or financed by superpowers,
that would want to force us into dependency
Against this dismal economic background, there will be attempts,
to place once more, the burden on the backs of the working class. They will be
told that a half a loaf is better than no loaf at all. They will hear the old
rhetoric of the pre -independence period and some will try to convince them,
that the empty glass is half full. The promise of “joy in the morning” will
echo through the corridors of corrupt power.
We therefore urge trade unions, to be fearless and avoid,
supporting policy directives, that are presented in the “national interest” but
are really tools, to keep the decadent status quo alive and in control of the
region. Workers can no longer afford, to give comfort to those whose greed is
limitless, and who see our region in pure terms of wealth accumulation at the
expense of the working class.
William Skinner is a Caribbean social commentator.
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