Recalibrating labour agenda

IT IS noteworthy that following the recent Labour Day observances there have been calls, out of genuine concerns and not for the first time, for union leaders to undertake a serious review of the labour agenda and the role labour and by extension trade unions should be playing in a technology-driven knowledge economy where the nature of work has undergone significant evolution, especially in the past decade.

From a historical standpoint, there is no doubt that labour played a substantial role in the evolution democracy in many Caribbean societies against the backdrop of emancipation and indentureship.

This call has undoubtedly been prompted by the level of apprehension and cynicism seemingly prevalent among large sectors of the working class, manifested in the declining membership of mainstream trade unions and the inability of the messaging of labour leaders to gain traction among the very proletariat they lead.

Dwindling union membership and stymied participation of workers in in the activities of unions, along with a sustained agenda of trade union demonisation by the bourgeois, must serve as a powerful indicator to union leaders that unless a radical shift in agenda and modus operandi is undertaken with alacrity, a major component of democracy will face annihilation, paving the way for autocrats and dictators to treat workers as property to exploit at their whim and fancy, consistent with the bygone eras of slavery and indentureship.

Emerging out of the industrial revolution, workers recognised that the voice of solidarity was a powerful tool against exploitative forces of naked greed and capitalism. This new-found power of workers was used effectively to achieve worker rights and privileges that are now being taken for granted by a recalcitrant proletariat. These rights are now being seriously threatened with the diminishing power and stature of the trade unions.

The significance of this year’s Labour Day observances cannot be overstated, given that it was 50 years ago that June 19 was declared a public holiday in TT. However, the labour landscape of today is characterised by an information technology (IT) revolution that has and continues to alter the nature of work at warp speed.

The catalyst of the covid19 pandemic only served to accelerate the change process in form and function that is unprecedented, with many job designations being threatened with extinction.

Globalisation and transnational corporations, along with an unregulated IT sector, have empowered employers to dictate an economic agenda that is unparalleled in the history of work. How have unions been concomitantly responding to this dynamic?

New worker arrangements such as "work from home" and "fixed term contracts" have been successfully marketed by employers to unsuspecting workers.

Concurrent with union stagnation and the inability of existing legal frameworks to evolve to keep abreast with this revolution in worker-employer relationships, many workers are being deceived into engagements that facilitate naked and legal exploitation.

While unions in TT have and continue to be very vigorous in their calls for existing legislative frameworks to evolve with the changing labour landscape, there is the inescapable fact that unions are not particularly attractive to the majority of workers, including those in unionised environments.

Despite their best efforts, unions have not been able to make a dent in the propensity of many employers to engage in these practices. Driven by naked greed and profit maximisation, such employers have become progressively creative in their deployment of arrangements that skilfully avoid collective bargaining.

The defunct national tripartite committee continues to tacitly facilitate these arrangements. The non-ratification of various ILO conventions to which TT has signed onto continues to be a source of grave concern.

Democratic structures within unions that facilitate worker empowerment must be revisited. As guardians of democracy and human rights, unions must introspect to reassess relevance and be mature enough to adjust to a radically altered workers' agenda. Calls for changing the union agenda and narrative are being dismissed by union leaderships at their own peril.

International union affiliations have become critical in the evolution process, along with enhancing the union power base in the fight against globalisation and mega-transnational corporations that have the capacity to silence governments.

Right-wing national agendas must be repelled with strong and concerted union solidarity, advocacy and education. Genuine solidarity dialogues must feature prominently in unions’ agendas, along with concomitant undertakings for reinvention.

Given the stakes involved, leaders must engage in honest introspection, putting aside personal egos and agendas in the interest of at least maintaining the hard-won rights and privileges workers currently enjoy.