A Voice Crying in the Wilderness

"None can deny that in the context of the changing world environment conditioned by what is being acclaimed as the globalization of the Market Place, there is a tremendous need for a common understanding between capital and labor". Leslie Melville Women in the workforce, environmental challenges to worker output, the purpose of the minimum wage, worker’s value add, globalization, buzz words of today utilized by Leslie Melville throughout his illustrious career as a Trade Unionist in his native Guyana as he worked tirelessly for the dignity and respect of the Guyanese worker from the early pre-independence, racially divided sixties to the even more racial divided Post-Republic eighties. As a world-renowned Trade Unionist, Mr. Melville often shared his forward thinking views on the requirements for a successful relationship between the Union, the Employer, the Worker, and the Government. Mr. Melville viewed this relationship as a partnership with each side making an equally valuable contribution. One of his primary views which resonates today as unions struggle to remain relevant is his belief that for a union to be successful they must first understand the cost aspect of their demands on the employer’s bottom line in order to better reconcile their demands with the goals of the Corporation as they work within the framework of their country’s governmental infrastructure. Throughout his career, he encouraged the workers to educate themselves so that they can better partner with the employer. Whereas he supported the rights of the workers, unlike most Trade Unionist of his time and of today, he realized that in order for the union to succeed in its quest for worker participation in management, not only must the workers of the organization be trained for their new roles, but more importantly so must the Union’s leadership. Mr. Melville used many forums to deliver his message. This book is a compilation of fifteen thought provoking articles delivered throughout his career on various topics relating the relationship among the worker, the Corporation and the Government. In this book, Mr. Melville describes his work as “A Voice Crying in the Wilderness”, for whereas his work was most often appreciated for its relevance and candor, far too often was it ignored. This book was unfortunately published after his passing in the same year that the people of Guyana worked tireless to create a grassroots campaign to end a twenty-three reign of the Government of one of the parties Mr. Melville rallied against in 2015.