Respected, articulate and possessing the wisdom born of the decades of struggle for the rights of workers, Joseph Pollydore was a figure, who spanned like a mythical colossus the era of the early 20th century under British rule, and the dawning years of the 21st century when this nation celebrated its 33rd year as a Republic. Bracketed in those six dozen years are the many phases and faces of the labour movement as it metamorphosed from the consciousness-raising process among workers of the power and value of a vibrant trade union. First ignited by Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow, the “principal architect” behind the formation of the British Guiana Labour Union in 1919, the torch of the workers’ movement has flickered and flared throughout the decades, enlightening thousands of employees of their rights and responsibilities in the workplace. In those early years of the last century, men in particular, and women learnt of the human dignity and the material benefits they could experience as long as they continued to band themselves together to demand their rights from those masters bent on extracting the ‘last pound of flesh’ from persons regarded as mere units of labour in the grand economic schema of that colonial era.

It was from this matrix that Joseph Pollydore emerged in the years of the 1940s, and came to be known as a warrior for workers’ rights. In his book, A History of Trade Unionism in Guyana: 1900 to 1961, Attorney-at-law Mr Ashton Chase first mentions Joseph Pollydore with these lines: “Throughout the 40s the Transport Workers Union continued to drag its feet in terms of membership and finance. Its annual returns show that it was relatively in the same backward position as the B.G. Post Office Workers Union. It was not that the Union lacked leadership. Indeed it threw up a number of very capable men, chief among them were Messrs F.O. Van Sertima and John Ivan Edwards. Among those who later came to the forefront were Mr D.M. Harper and the astute Mr Joseph H. Pollydore who held the office of Secretary for a long period and to whose skilful leadership the transport workers owe so much.”

The quality of “astuteness” and the talent of “skilful leadership” were to characterise the many years of service Joseph Pollydore gave to the development of the labour movement in his homeland and his interaction with sister national movements in various territories of the region. As the welter of tributes to the memory of Pollydore began to pour in on Wednesday afternoon, one of his colleagues, Mr Leslie Melville, fondly recalled that the labour veteran had been nicknamed the “Caribbean Fox” by Guyana’s late leader President Forbes Burnham. “The term was not used in its derogatory form,” Melville hastened to explain, “but as an attestation of Pollydore’s skill and craftiness when at the bargaining table. Like the skilled poker player, it was always difficult to determine what would have been his next move.”

The present generation of workers may never fully appreciate the debt of gratitude they owe to the labour movement’s doughty pioneers, who experienced great personal sacrifice and endured tremendous mental and social buffetings at the hands of representatives of colonial interests in order to win a regimen of industrial rights that are now taken for granted. Humane working hours, holidays with pay, the mechanism of compassionate leave at a time of personal crisis, rules and regulations to protect workers’ health, the right to trade union representation, and commensurate pay for extra hours of work are some of the benefits routinely allowed employees today. Were it not for the dedication of labour pioneers such as Joseph H. Pollydore, their commitment to the Guyanese nation and their belief in the justness of the workers’ cause the quality of life in today’s workplace would have been in a sorry state.