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Sugar wages dispute…
GuySuCo, GAWU make written submissions to
tribunal
Chairman of the arbitration tribunal, Gobind Ganga
Written arguments were yesterday submitted to the arbitration tribunal set up to deal with the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) wages dispute.
Representatives from the sugar company and the union documented their arguments on the issue and have submitted a copy to each tribunal member.
Chairman of the tribunal, Gobind Ganga, who accepted the written arguments, said that he is hoping for an early conclusion of the matter. He noted that the dispute is of national interest and as such the matter will be expedited.
The disputing parties also agreed that the matter should be concluded at an early date and noted that they are prepared to work towards that objective.
GuySuCo and GAWU met with the tribunal on September 11 last as the soured wages negotiation between the parties reach tribunal level.
During that meeting, it was agreed that both sides will present oral and written submissions arguing their positions to the tribunal.
The tribunal will meet again on Saturday at Cheddi Jagan Research Centre, formerly Red House, Main Street, when oral submissions will be made.
It was agreed that by mid November the arbitration tribunal will commence the preparation of its report.
Soured wage negotiations between the company and GAWU resulted in workers taking industrial action, which has to date lasted for almost four weeks.
A three-man team, led by Gobind Ganga, was commissioned on August 29 last to deal with the wages dispute. Other members of the team are Attorney at Law Cecil Seepersaud, and Major General (ret’d) Norman McLean. Both sides will be bound by the decision of the arbitration panel.
Minister of Labour, Manzoor Nadir, was forced to intervene in the matter after a deadlock was declared on the negotiations. As such he imposed compulsory arbitration.
Both parties have maintained their positions, with GAWU demanding 14 percent salary increase for the workers and GuySuCo standing its ground with a 5¼ percent increase.
The 5¼ percent is an improvement from the sugar company’s original offer of 4 ¼ percent. However, the union rejected that offer.
Chief Executive Officer of GuySuCo, Nick Jackson, told Kaieteur News that $300M in revenue was lost as a result of the sugar industry missing the targeted 55,000 tonnes required in a contractual obligation with its European Union market.
The agreement stated that the corporation had a commitment to provide the quantity of sugar by September 5. However, on that date only, 45,000 tonnes were shipped.
The CEO noted that the industrial actions during the year gravely affected production of the company.
The $300M in lost revenue includes the demurrage on the vessels that was paid.
This means that the corporation had to pay a fee for the ships, which were hired, to stay longer than expected in Guyana.
Meanwhile, Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, has since said that Guyana’s loss of revenue from the sugar industry is of grave concern to government.
In an invited comment on the issue, Persaud had said that he is very concerned about any loss of actual or potential revenue. At present, he added, the corporation is in a very peculiar financial situation.
An official from the sugar company told Kaieteur News that the $300M loss is equivalent to two percent of the wage increases. Each percent increase represents an additional $150M on the wages bill, the official said.
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