The RODRIGUES GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION

Historical Background

Rodrigues, lying 650 km east of the island of Mauritius, has an area approximately 106km2 and is surrounded by 200 km2 of coral reef lagoon. The population is approximately ...40,000 and constitute mainly of African descendent shipped from Madagascar, Mozambique, Guinea and Senegal some 300 years ago to this part of the world during the period of slavery.
In 1968,following the decolonisation process of the Island of Mauritius where Rodriguan were deliberately excluded and following the drafting of a unilateral constitution Rodriguan became unwillingly Mauritian overnight as we were not given the choice between freedom or colonialism.
Due to the different realities of the two Islands ,in 1976 a separate ministry was set up in Mauritius to deal with the affairs of Rodrigues and it is in that particular context that the Rodrigues Government Employees Association was set up to deal with the specificities of the public sector workers in Rodrigues.
In 2002, following a long sustained struggle, the idea of Autonomy for the ethnically diverse people of Rodrigues became a reality. Far reaching devolution from the centralised rigidities of Mauritian control came into sight.

A gist of our struggle

The Rodrigues Government Employees Association (RGEA) was founded in 1979 and is the first Rodriguan trade union set up in Rodrigues to defend the interest of the Rodriguan workers more precisely those of the public sector.
As any other traditional trade unions the RGEA has as objectives to defend the interest of its members and to fight for better conditions of employment and for the contentment of its members in the society. As a public sector union,we are also struggling for a strong public service with appropriate funding, structure and adequate well trained manpower in order to be in a position to offer quality public services to the Rodriguan people we serve.
Apart from our traditional union activities, we also campaign in favour of policies that will improve the living conditions of the workers, the unemployed and the poor.
We also fight for a new way of running our society, a new organisation of our society where it will be possible to provide every Rodriguan with decent employment, education, housing, health, access to culture and a say in the running of our society.
Finally, as it is not our lot in life to be perpetually governed by other people we are also campaigning for the redefinition of our status and for our right to self-determine our future.
Apart from our local experience, we are inspired in our struggle by protests in Tunisia, Egypt and other part of the world where people are making their voices heard, insisting on their innate dignity, and the right to determine their future because for us freedom, dignity and prosperity are not restricted to those culture and countries but are universal values for all of us.
We are aware of the huge challenges before us and are at the same time persuaded that a new dawn of progress, prosperity and freedom is in the making.
We are confident.
A better Rodrigues is possible!

A better world is possible!