Sugar workers’ wages talks to continue after elections

Negotiations between the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU) continued yesterday with no resolution so the two sides will meet after Monday’s general and regional elections to discuss a proposal that 2019’s retroactive payments be staggered throughout this year.

“We will meet after the elections to discuss this proposal, because whichever government is there, our position that the workers get the retroactive money will not change,” a source close to the negotiations told Stabroek News yesterday.

GAWU also issued an update on the negotiations yesterday. “During the engagement, the union suggested that the corporation examine settling the retroactive payments to sugar workers through several installments during this year,” the statement said.

“We put forward that a reasonable timetable could be agreed to between the union and the corporation. We urged that our suggestion be given serious consideration and contemplation taking into account the GuySuCo’s own admission that our discussions concerned the year 2019,” it added.

Last week, the union said that it was mulling countrywide strike action if proposed increases in sugar workers’ wages and salaries are not retroactive to January 2019.

But the corporation stressed that strike action during negotiations is not acceptable and expressed disappointment at actions taken by workers recently at the Blairmont Estate, even as its Chairman, Dr Harold Davis, maintained that any increase will be based on projections for this year.

The union said that it was quick to remind the corporation that they should use proceeds from swathes of land being sold by the National Industrial & Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), for the corporation to offset expenses and made a proposal to this effect. “We also drew to the corporation’s attention that its land was being sold by NICIL, at high costs, and representation should be furthered to obtain support to offset the payments to the workers. The GuySuCo team undertook to share our proposal with the management before meeting again sometime in the coming week,” the statement said.

GAWU also said that at yesterday’s talks, the issue of the retroactive payments was the main matter discussed but GuySuCo used the meeting “to apparently criticise the workers protests on February 25, 2020.”

“The workers of the Blairmont factory were particularly singled out and it appeared to us that the GuySuCo was seeking to determine when, and possibly if, workers could strike. We had to point out to GuySuCo that the workers, with the intent of safeguarding the corporation’s assets, and out of an abundance of caution and concern proceeded to properly bring operations of the Blairmont factory to a halt,” GAWU’s release said.

Awry

However, according to the union, the corporation’s team informed that they could not accept the explanation given.

“This was after we shared with GuySuCo that the estate management was aware that the workers would have been taking protest action. It appears to us that the corporation would want a situation where the workers vacate their posts and allow the situation to go awry. This, of course, is not a position our union and the workers could condone nor uphold,” the statement said.

“The workers right to take part in protest actions is upheld by the Constitution. We do not believe that the GuySuCo, more so as a state-owned organisation, should seek to constrict or constrain this important workers right or any right of the workers for that matter. We believed that the workers of Blairmont, like all workers, demonstrated a high degree of responsibility and only are seeking to be treated like their colleagues elsewhere in the State. They are not asking for special or unique treatment and the, apparent, decrying of their principled and justifiable actions is upsetting for us,” it added.

Meanwhile, GAWU said that it was “disturbed” to learn that the Uitvlugt Estate factory, for the first crop so far, has suffered breakdowns aggregating to 48 hours. It noted that at this time, the estate is in its second week of its approximate six-week crop.

Their concern comes as just days ago, according to the union, they had expressed their disquiet about the lack of adequate maintenance during the out of crop period.

“We did share that in the period many aged components that require replacement had simply been serviced. It was only at a meeting on February 21, that the corporation chose to criticise the union for its statement, yet now days later we see the evidence of the union’s concerns are coming to light,” GAWU said.

And as they pointed out that it was not the first time they had complained, the union said that GuySuCo told them that capital improvements and replacements plans have been stymied, as NICIL’s Special Purpose Unit has withheld proceeds from the $30 billion sugar bond.

“The corporation, did share with us too, that since June, 2019 it has presented to the government’s holding company detailed requests regarding support for capital expenditures amounting to some $600M. But those funds which ought to be released given the intent of the bond have been seemingly imprisoned. We learnt from the sugar company that the non-release of funds has prevented it from being unable to utilise several tractors as well as a cane harvester that the company has procured but is unable to settle its indebtedness. The absence of these pieces of equipment, the GuySuCo shared, has hampered its programme and plans,” the statement said.

The GuySuCo informed that, at this time, it cannot really contemplate its next steps as it remains unclear how it could plan when support supposedly available to it remains locked away, the statement added.