GAWU Labour College for mid-week launch

Invitations are out for the long-awaited opening of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) Labour College.

The spanking new three-storey edifice situated behind the GAWU Headquarters at 59 High Street and Wights Lane, Kingston, opens formally on Wednesday afternoon (24-03-10) after a launching ceremony to be chaired by Principal – Navin Chandarpal.

The College will attract students drawn from the Union’s bargaining units in all its sectors including sugar, fisheries, rice, alcohol beverages, the Berbice Bridge and Forestry. Further consideration is to be given to making the College’s state-of-the-art facilities available to other beneficiaries – all free of charge.

The College proposes a curriculum primarily concerned with trade union education to equip workers with the knowledge, skills and abilities to be union leaders at their respective work-places. Additionally, the institution helps to develop an underpinning philosophy of producing an educated work-force among which are trade unionists and workers’ representatives armed with a contextual sense of their role and responsibilities both as leaders and agents of national development, helping to ensure and safe-guard workers welfare at all times.

This vision accommodates such subjects as basic educational skills, the multiplicity of topics related to trade unionism and a good grasp of national and international issues which impact on the country’s economy and from time to time, Guyana’s industrial climate.

Wednesday’s launch is scheduled to be addressed by GAWU’s President Komal Chand, ILO Regional Director Dr Ana Teresa Romero, Minister of Education, Hon. Shaik Baksh and Minister of Labour, Hon. Manzoor Nadir.

The Feature Address will be delivered by veteran Trade Unionist and Attorney-at-Law Ashton Chase.