To share in the boom stop being like the owl

THE EDITOR: There was something about this year’s Labour Day celebrations at Fyzabad of which I was very pleased. Absent on both platforms — National Trade Union Centre and Federation of Independent Trade Unions and NGOs — were the annual rhetoric and disparaging remarks about their comrades in struggle on either side, that would only have served to create deep wounds and perpetuate disunity. The difference was clear and present, it was all about the business of workers and the less fortunate, sending rays of hope for labour unity and there seems to be a growing sense of awareness and responsibility among the leadership. I saw the spirit of the demonstrators and heard the positive and productive speeches from both platforms. I felt the power of the working class crying out for forthright leadership. In the present political climate of divide and rule, there is no other time in our history than now, when unions need to cling desperately to their inspiring mottos: “United we stand, divided we fall” and “forward ever, backward never”.

On the journey towards labour unity, the leadership must rely heavily on dialogue, trade union democracy, understanding, workers participation and the will to succeed. “Truth” has always been the pillar of moral and spiritual values but, in this divided partisan country today, it is evident that it is losing friends, supporters; and citizens who will pay the price for this seemingly popular erosion of “truth” are the less fortunate in the society. These deprived citizens are collectively a constituency of every creed and race with the majority being Afro and Indo Trinbago-nians, sharing the same political abuse and inequalities in the social, economic and education systems. Unfortunately the traditional active and reliable support of the labour movement that was evident in the past got lost in the divisive rubble of self-aggrandisement, partisan politics and petty jealousies. A situation that left the constituency in the hands of so-called grassroot leaders who are under the influence of partisan party politics and judging from the irrelevant issues they bring into national debates is an indication that they have neither arrived nor liberated to fill the void left by the leadership of the labour movement.

This reliable “vote basket” community who continually puts Governments into power and receives little reward, is expanding as a result of the shrinking middle class community, accelerated by the increasing disparity in salaries and wages of workers at the top and those at the bottom in Government and private business across the country, together with other policies that influence the concentration of the country’s wealth into the hands of a few. Our history has shown that the labour movement has more in common with poor people than politicians will ever have, and it has always been the driving force behind social change. Therefore, if the underprivileged citizens hope to share in the country’s expected financial boom and have a say in keeping the political 2020 vision transparent and focussed on people’s needs, to ensure they are not left behind, they must stop being like the Owl — “the more light you shine on it, the less it will see”. Unorganised workers across the country must become proactive and join trade unions of their choice to actively participate in influencing labour unity and the movement’s return to its traditional role as the united voice of the poor and less privileged. There has been a timely divine intervention that workers must not ignore — the “disabled” was chosen to give the “abled” object lessons on facing the truth, racial unity, the will to succeed, how to remain focussed in spite of detractors and the public relations statements of those in authority.

WYCLIFFE MORRIS
Former Director of Education
NUGFW