MANY years ago, I had the pleasure of being in a class taught by the legendary Noam Chomsky.

One of the very many things that I remember from that session was hearing Chomsky talk about “the un-people.”

In case you are wondering who or what the un-people are — it is the way the uber-rich think about us working-class fodder.

To them, we are nothing more than a unit that can be used when they want and discarded as they please. There are plenty of units available so they can go as far afield as they like to find another unit to do their bidding.

We are simply barely human resources to them.

They — the uber-rich — are the only “real” people. They and the money they can accumulate are the only things that matter.

I have never appreciated the point being made by Chomsky more than when I visited Sri Lanka as part of a trade union delegation recently.

The garment workers we met are an example of the un-people. To the employers, they are purely disposable units, paid a pittance and forced to live in so-called boarding houses — both of which test the basic human instinct of survival to the limit.

Many people I know would just never smile again faced with the same test of survival that the people we met were facing.

They have my total admiration not just because they survive, but because they also know they deserve better and are prepared to organise to get it.

When Che Guevara said, “If you tremble with indignation at every injustice, then you are a comrade of mine,” he was perfectly describing the way I think of the garment workers we met in Sri Lanka.

They were inspirational both in their commitment to change and their determination to make it happen.

But they face the same challenge that anyone fighting for social change faces — building lasting unity and solidarity.

We saw some friction between trade unions and organisations from civil society — notably with the women’s organisations.

In Sri Lanka most garment workers are women but the perception is that trade union leaders in the sector are men.

I say perception, because while there are some excellent men in the leadership of the garment workers union, far and away most executive committee members are women.

Of course, factory employers and the government in Sri Lanka will — and do — try to exploit any possible friction between working-class people.

The big transnational fashion chains that claim not to know about the appalling treatment of the workers also benefit from any possible lack of unity between anyone who has an interest in building power for the garment workers.

Some years ago, I designed a proposal that I had every intention of following through on if I became the general secretary of the union I used to work for.

Based on the seemingly old-fashioned notion that you have more chance of winning the more united you are, I wanted to break down the unnecessary competition and duplication of resources that exists in some sectors.

I was thinking of the plethora of unions in the health service as well as the range of smaller, very agile and, it has to be said, pretty successful, unions in health and higher education.

I thought an organisation as large as the one I worked for could act as an umbrella which united the vital backroom functions, while allowing autonomy in bargaining, organising and campaigning where people want it, but pooling resources where it makes sense to do so.

It seems to me there’s no reason why this sort of approach couldn’t work in Sri Lanka and act as a template for uniting workers’ power internationally.

Nobody has to lose their power. Nobody loses their autonomy — unless they want to.

Garment workers in Sri Lanka — or anywhere else for that matter — do not have the luxury of allowing perceived or real divisions to get in the way of building power for working people.

The starting point for developing this unity would be a series of workshops that help the participants to agree on exactly what they are all trying to do before going on to decide who is best placed to do what.

Then decisions can be made about the best way of sharing resources to get things done.

I think this can be done within Sri Lanka and across the globe.

Some might say that there are already international trade union organisations that do this type of thing. Maybe? If there are, they don’t seem to be getting very far — so perhaps a new approach is needed.

If not a new approach, then certainly a fresh impetus behind building unity on a national and international basis.

Alongside the basic task of building unity of purpose on the ground in Sri Lanka is the need to make sure there is nimble and authoritative research at the disposal of the workers.

They don’t have the time to spend going through company accounts and scrutinising complex government legislation — much of which has a relationship to the demands of the World Bank and the IMF.

I think there is a strong case for those that have the resources, primarily in the global North, to help fund a think tank to support unions organising in the three main economic sectors of Sri Lanka — garment making, tea plantations and tourism.

I think it is time for a fundamental shift in the way that unions in the global South are supported to become established and grow stronger.

In the same way, the countries of the global South, such as Sri Lanka, are at the sharp end of the climate emergency, the front line of a battle against a capitalism that knows no borders.

If we do this right it could just be the beginning of the march to power for the un-people.

Follow Roger McKenzie on Twitter @RogerAMck.