Portside

As sugar beet harvesting season comes and goes in the Red River Valley, Mark Froemke, president of the West Minnesota Area Labor Council/Red River Valley, AFL-CIO, reflects on worker power in the region.

The history of the sugar workers in Guyana and their union GAWU is one of international solidarity. Today, however, many of the ties which once united unions in Canada, Britain, and the US to Guyana have disappeared. The current struggle against closures and privatization of the sugar industry in Guyana are an opportunity to rebuild solidarity in the fight against austerity everywhere.