The birth of trade unionism in Guyana
By Mellissa Ifill
Stabroek News
May 15, 2003
Another labour day has been celebrated by Guyanese workers amidst what some analysts see as the continued disenfranchisement of workers. Industrial circumstances in both the public and private sectors are characterised by unemployment, underemployment, low remuneration, low morale etc. Nonetheless, this disenfranchisement is believed to especially affect those in the public sector, which contracted under structural adjustment programmes implemented from 1989. Moreover, to many, the future of trade unionism appears bleak despite the general appreciation of the work of unions, with unions finding it difficult for example to recruit and retain young workers and to unionise some of the fastest growing sectors of the economy, particularly the service and retail sectors. Despite these seemingly depressing circumstances that grip both workers and the unions campaigning on their behalf, it is instructive to review the foundation and early history of the trade union movement in Guyana, not only to be reminded of the progress made by pioneering unions and worker leaders in securing rights for workers, but also to highlight the continued need for trade to address the problems associated with globalisation and to meaningfully contribute to the new global agenda of social justice - debt relief, distribution of wealth, workers' rights and limiting corporate excesses and power - that is being advanced by NGOs such as Oxfam, Greenpeace, Amnesty International and the religious organisations in this era of virtually unrestrained capitalism.
The workers movement in Guyana developed out of the confines of two exploitative employment structures, slavery and indentureship and acknowledgement by colonial powers and plantation owners of worker and human rights was achieved through struggle and sacrifice. During the period of slavery, workers sought to undermine the exploitative plantation system on which they toiled without remuneration using a number of strategies, subtle and overt, organized and spontaneous, violent and non-violent.
Much mention is often made of the two famous slave resistance endeavours in British Guiana - the 1763 Berbice Slave Rebellion and the 1823 Demerara Revolt. However, court records unmistakably show that during the days of slavery, African labourers in many ways, refused to accept their degradation and often employed passive forms of resistance on the plantation fields and factories. For instance, they toiled no harder than they had to, deliberately slowed their pace of work, held sit-down strikes and ran away to the interior regions en masse particularly at harvesting time. They damaged and destroyed tools, destroyed the crops and seized silver, wine, money, corn and machines. Some burned slaveholder houses, gins and barns to the ground while others refused to submit their unborn children and babies to a lifetime of slavery and thus committed acts of infanticide and abortion.
From the commencement of indentureship and continuing into the early 1900s, both working and living conditions for all categories of workers were horrendous. Those workers who were "fortunate" to secure employment in the context of high unemployment and underemployment in the colony were faced with a long working day for low, fixed remuneration in the face of the rising cost of living. No organization existed to make representation to employers on behalf of their workers in the latter's struggle to secure a just and humane wage and improved working conditions. In fact, the Government's support of the employers to the detriment of the workers was evident in their failure to institute any laws to standardize income and hours of labour and to grant legal status to trade unions in the colony. In addition, the state defended the plantocracy and business community in their exploitation of the workers and even employed the military power at its disposal to quell workers' demonstrations.
Meanwhile, an examination of the economic circumstances of British Guiana in the early 20th century reveals not simply high taxes, declining wages and unemployment, but also a rapid increase in the cost of living and a monocrop economy in recession. Although by the early 1880s, the economy had recovered from the post-emancipation labour crisis, it wasn't too long afterwards that there was a global slump in the sugar industry with the colony deriving significantly less for its exports from around 1896 and this trend continued into the first years of the 20th century. The decline in profits translated into declining wages for labourers in the sugar industry and other categories of skilled workers whose employment prospects were connected to the industry.
A similar decline was also evident in the rice and gold industries. The unemployment and underemployment that characterised the colony were exacerbated by the high direct and indirect taxations that were imposed on the poorest segments of the population. While those commodities used by the planters enjoyed low duties or were exempt for duties and taxes, those basic consumer goods needed by the poorer segment of the society, such as flour, oatmeal, corn, dried fish and rice were heavily taxed. Further, while the emergent Creole middle classes faced onerous taxes and required licences to operate as porters, hire cart drivers, shopkeepers and hucksters, the estates on the contrary, benefited from reduced income taxes and export duties.
In the early 1900s, the colony had also been facing continuous deterioration of the already inadequate social infrastructure. The living conditions in Georgetown were described as deplorable with many residents dwelling in shantytowns with inadequate potable water supply, little or no drainage and garbage disposal. Diseases were rampant and infant mortality rates were high while life expectancy was low.
It was within these conditions of rapidly decaying economic and social circumstances, that trade unionism in British Guiana emerged. The immediate origins of the trade union movement can however be traced to a strike by waterfront workers for increased wages in November and December 1905 in Georgetown, which was led by Critchlow. These workers faced opposition from the uncompromising shipping companies, and, the conflict between the shipping companies and the workers that had deteriorated into rioting and bloodshed was eventually settled after the British troops had been summoned. At an address to the World Trade Union Conference in 1945, Critchlow detailed the workers' woes and demands in the 1905 strike that had ultimately failed.
"Our working hours were 101/2. The system of a quarter day existed. There was no overtime for night work. We asked the employers to change these conditions. The reply was that we must take them or go. I organized a strike on the waterfront in December 1905. Our aims were for an increase of pay, which was very low. Truckers (called boys although adult men) made two shillings a day. They could scarcely get a whole day's work, taking cargo to the barn.
There was no trade union, and the employers refused. So I got the working men, boys together, and they agreed that when there were six boats in the harbour they must strike. A great thing and at that time I did not know that all the estates in the country followed us and struck on account of low wages."
The failure of this 1905 strike, which was partially due to the organizational weakness of the workers, clearly demonstrated to Critchlow and to Dr. Rohlehr, a middle class spokesman for the workers, that there was a pressing need for a trade union in the colony, with the latter pressing for the establishment of a trade union in January 1906. In the latter half of 1906, there was a meeting held at the Industrial Institute in Georgetown to explore this possibility however, it wasn't until 1914 that the first trade union was established in British Guiana.
The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 heightened the need for a trade union in the colony since the working classes were confronted with continuous increases in the cost of living and deterioration in the social and economic conditions. Consequently, there were many strikes and protests during the war years - most of which did not achieve their objectives. A number of the strikes during this period however, did provide some gains for the workers. The more important of those largely successful strikes were the strike by waterfront workers which lasted for 13 days during January 1917 in Georgetown, in which workers secured a 10 percent increase on their wages and a reduction of the working hours from 10hrs 30 mins to 9 hours, and, the December 1917 strike in Georgetown in which workers obtained an additional 10 percent wage increase.
Critchlow is credited as being the main force that was responsible for the gains achieved by workers in the January 1917 and December 1917 strikes and his activism on behalf of workers continued in early 1918 since even those gains that had been made in January and December 1917 had been obliterated by the constant rise in the cost of living. Critchlow paid the ultimate price for his continuous efforts to enhance the working conditions in the colony, when he was fired in March 1918, after he declined to withdraw an appeal to the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce for an 8-hour working day. Unable to secure employment in Georgetown after his dismissal, Critchlow took the decision to dedicate all his energies to coordinating and organising workers.
With the support of the workers in the colony who came from various occupations and worked in a number of industries - particularly the waterfront workers - and assistance of trade unions in Britain, Critchlow established the first trade union in the colony in January 1919 - the British Guiana Labour Union (BGLU).
The BGLU quickly established itself as an important player in the colony. The union embarked on an intensive expansion drive in the early years of its existence, holding public meetings in urban Georgetown and in the rural areas and branches of the BGLU were established in the countryside. Therefore by January 1920 the membership of the BGLU stood at 13 000 and it had savings amounting to $9700. More importantly, in those initial years the union made significant strides and gained a number of concessions in the effort to improve workers' conditions of work including: the elimination of night and Sunday labour in bakeries; a number of salary increases; and the appointment of a commission to look into the living conditions, salaries and any other circumstance affecting stevedores. One of the most significant achievements of the BGLU under Critchlow however, was the acquisition of legal recognition for trade unions in June 1921. This recognition, which was achieved despite strong opposition from the members of the Combined Court, was a result of both Critchlow and his lieutenant's sterling efforts and the support of the Colonial Office in London and the British Labour Party.
