Philomena Sahoye-Shury

Philomena Sahoye-Shury (13 October 1931 – 2 October 2022) was a Guyanese trade unionist and politician. She served as MP from 1969 to 1971 and from 1998 to 2011, and she was also general secretary of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers' Union (GAWU). Biography Early life and career Sahoye-Shury was born on 13 October 1931. She entered the workforce as a nurse. She cited Janet Jagan and her husband Cheddi Jagan, specifically a speech she heard from the former while in her twenties, as having inspired her to go into politics. In 1964, Sahoye-Shury became general secretary of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers' Union, where she earned the nickname Fireball due to her "outspoken and forthright stance on the workers' behalf".

On 16 June 1964, amidst the Union's sugar worker strike, Sahoye-Shury and Progressive Youth Organisation of Guyana secretary Neville Annibourne were arrested by British Guiana colonial police Authorities later charged her and union leader Harry Lall with inciting violence. During her incarceration in New Amsterdam Prison, she occupied the same cell as Janet Jagan. Leslie Ramsammy, a close friend of hers since childhood, recalled in his column Ramsammy's Ruminations that "being locked up and whisked away to mystery Police stations were regular things for Philo". In 1992, she became deputy mayor of Georgetown. President Donald Ramotar specifically blamed the People's National Congress for not allowing the position to rotate to her. until Joseph Harmon fired her in 2015 following the APNU+AFC's victory in the 2015 Guyanese general election. and had three children, Her office was also attacked with kerosene in March.

Sahoye-Shury died on 2 October 2022. and GAWU president Seepaul Narine.