Task Force approves return of Komal Chand’s body

The National COVID-19 Task Force has approved a request for the return of the body of the late trade unionist Mr Komal Chand and his wife from Cuba.

A statement from the Task Force on Monday revealed that Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Karen Cummings met with the son of Mr Chand and spoke to Mrs Chand via telephone and conveyed sympathies on behalf of the government and shared with the family the position of the government.

Mr Chand died one month ago while receiving treatment in Havana for pneumonia; he was accompanied by his wife.

With a solid grounding in the Agriculture sector, the veteran trade unionist was well known in the sugar belt, fighting for workers’ rights, better wages and salaries and improved working conditions.

Chand was also a long-standing member of the People’s Progressive Party and a Member of Parliament.

GAWU, of which Chand was the head for an extensive period up until his death, is the largest trade union in Guyana and in the Caribbean.

It was founded in 1946 as the Guiana Industrial Workers’ Union. After failing in the 1950s, it was reformed as the Guyana Sugar Workers’ Union in 1961, but changed its name to Guyana Agricultural Workers’ Union in 1962 before becoming GAWU later that decade.

Chand was initially the Organising Secretary of the Union before rising to the helm.