GPSU struggled for Guyana’s Independence – President Granger

The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) has been hailed by President David Granger for being an integral part of the struggle for Guyana’s Independence.
The President was delivering brief remarks before the unveiling of plaques at the organisation’s headquarters on Thursday, in

commemoration of the country’s 50th Independence anniversary, observed on May 26, 2016.
The GPSU’s mission is to represent the interest of persons working in the public service. President Granger said there was absolutely no way Guyana could have freed itself from the clutches of colonialism without the unflinching work of the Union and public servants.
“I think we can mark the 50th anniversary of our country by expressing collectively, our pride in the work that the GPSU has done over the past nine decades and the work of the public service itself. It has not been an easy route that the Union has traversed over the nine decades… The struggle for Independence itself was not without the massive contribution of public servants,” the Head of State told the small gathering.
Speaking on the conditions that prevailed during colonialism, President Granger said very few people knew and understood the struggles endured during that time.
“We were coming out of a colonial period and very few people know what that meant. People think there was some golden age, when everything worked, but it’s quite the contrary. Colonialism was an era of degradation, and ordinary Guyanese had to struggle to achieve Independence.”
“The Chief of Staff was foreign, the Police Commissioner was foreign, the Chancellor of the Judiciary, the Bishop of the Anglican and Catholic Churches were foreign, and the Governor General of Guyana was foreign,” he recalled.
According to the Head of State during that period, no Guyanese could have aspired to reaching any high-ranking position within the country.
“In the 1960s, even to get someone to become the Postmaster General, the Union had to threaten to strike, because the assistant to the Postmaster General was about to be superseded by a foreigner and the Union, the GPSU, drew the line and said no”. That was the only way a Guyanese was able to become Postmaster,” he said.
Guyanese were being kept down under the British Empire, the President said, and the GPSU, then called the British Guiana Civil Service Association (BGCSA), was part of the organisation that was part of the struggle for independence.
He said when the country commemorated the 50th anniversary of Independence, it was not just a ceremonial occasion, but a landmark which showed that public servants were part of an organisation of making Guyana free.
In his remarks, GPSU President Patrick Yarde said Government and the Union were partners in the social lives of those who work for the country.
“There is much that we could reflect on at this time.” He said it was intended to underscore the relationship the Union had with Government, at a time the country was celebrating its Independence anniversary. Moreover, he said, it was important to note that the two institutions were significant players in the lives of the nation’s public servants: “the Government as the employer and the Union as the legitimate representative of workers in the public service”, Yarde explained.
“We, the Union, serve public servants in different capacities. In this regard, you will know of the important nature of the discourse between Government and the Union regarding the welfare of public servants,” he said.
Yarde added that the history of the Union would show that its role extended beyond workers’ representation, adding that the GPSU has publicly identified itself as a patriot and contributor to the building of the nation.
Union members and other supporters gathered on Thursday for the event, exactly 50 years after former Prime Minister Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham carried out a similar exercise, when he too unveiled the plaque to celebrate a new independent Guyana. The Union this year celebrates 93 years of existence.