Culture Matters

DARA E HEALY

Harsh bleach

on calloused hands

Hot iron

burns caring hands

Jooking board

Roughened knees

Feverish lips

Whisper

treasured dreams.

WORK. In TT, it is a complicated four-letter word.

My grandmother worked as a domestic, as it was called back then. She cleaned houses, made sweets for extra income to pay lessons fees and put food on the table. Lessons cost $2 every month, so she worked extra to earn precisely that figure. She walked for miles to work, walked back home and then worked some more.

In this country, work and history are intertwined. Yet, from cane fields to make-work programmes painting the trunks of trees, we still need to get the concept of work right. We see service as servitude and seem to have been stuck in the mould of contentious labour relations since Butler, Weekes, Nunez, Young and others marched in defence of the rights of workers.

'He had been brought up to feel that an East Indian's place was in the field...An office was meant for white people and good-class coloured people.' Guyanese author Edgar Mittelholzer used humour and the setting of an office to expose the layers of race, class and other prejudices that resulted from colonialism. The truth is, our approach to work became outmoded when the TT flag went up and British warships left. Disappointingly, the colonial leadership style seeped into our politics, our school system, the business sector and even in some cultural groups where visionary artists dominated and prevented outward growth.

This week, academics, activists and labour stalwarts gathered to celebrate the life of one union leader who defied that maximum-leader style. George Weekes was remembered as someone who encouraged participation, operated with humility and who did not enrich himself at the expense of the organisation. It was said that this attitude of service allowed Weekes to inspire and lead from the front, while demanding accountability from all who served the same cause. One union, one struggle was his mantra.

But was it enough? In 2021, we are paying the social and cultural price for not demonstrating enough will to change the way we work. I recall suggesting ideas for a better balance between work and personal life to several employers. For instance, professionals with children and families could work from home two-three times per week. I asked for a homework and play area in the office on the days we had to work late. An exercise space, better lighting, plants - approaches that would make the place where we spent so much time more amenable to, well, work.

The response from both men and women was a polite smile, accompanied by a patronising nodding of the head. The body language told me what they were thinking - 'There she goes again trying to change the world. The enthusiasm of youth is so amusing...'

The militancy of labour in 1937, 1965, 1970 and the 1980s was a necessary response to a deeply inequitable society. It has been well documented that our natural resources