Wages dispute… Arbitration tribunal set up, sugar workers resume duty

Aug 30, 2008 News

A three-man arbitration tribunal was yesterday assembled to deal with the wages dispute between the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU).
Dr. Gobind Ganga was named chairman of the panel.
Major General (retired) Norman McLean and Yoganand Mahadeo are the other two members of the tribunal.
Dr. Ganga is an Economist and Deputy Governor of the Bank of Guyana.
Major General (rtd.) McLean has been involved in similar arbitrations before, while Mahadeo is a qualified chartered accountant within the private sector.
Even as the tribunal is getting ready to consider the arguments by the two parties and make a final judgment, sugar workers have returned to the fields.
Speaking with Kaieteur News yesterday, Chief Executive Officer of Guysuco, Nick Jackson, said that about 50 percent of the workers resumed duty yesterday.
According to Jackson, that percentage is normal, considering the fact that it is the end of the week.
Those at Port Mourant, he said, are still on strike.
Jackson said that he hopes that good judgment prevails in the matter.
The dispute between the two bodies was taken to arbitration after efforts in the conciliation process proved futile.
Both sides will be bound by the decision of the arbitration panel.
Yesterday, Minister of Labour, Manzoor Nadir, said that after the deadlock was declared on Monday last, he had declared that the continuance of the dispute is likely to be gravely injurious to the national interest.
As such, the minister said, under the Labour Act, he decided to impose compulsory arbitration.
In a statement issued yesterday, Nadir said that the tribunal consists of persons with great competence and proven track records.
An official within the sugar company said on Thursday that the strike was in breach of the Collective Labour Agreement (CLA) signed by both parties each year.
It was a strike without any proper notification, the official said.
Soured wage negotiations between the company and GAWU resulted in workers taking a standoff last week.
GuySuCo is contractually obligated to supply its main European customer with 55,000 tonnes of sugar by September 5.
Failing to meet this obligation would see the corporation losing US$70 for every tonne of sugar not supplied by the date to that particular market.
Presently, the corporation has shipped 16,400 of the 55,000 tonnes.

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