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Wake up, sugar workers!
Nov 25, 2008 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
The sugar workers got deceived. They are not to be blamed. All of us in the critical arena of political discourse have to take the shame.
The list includes the PNC, the AFC, this columnist, and other columnists like Christopher Ram and Clive Thomas, Vision Guyana, Red Thread, the WPA, GHRA, ACDA, TUC, editors, commentators and other stakeholders.
When GAWU let down the sugar workers, we should have been there for them. Minister Mansoor Nadir imposed arbitration after wage and salary increase negotiations between Guysuco and GAWU broke down. GAWU wanted 14 per cent; Guysuco put forward five per cent.
The crucial mistake GAWU made was when it agreed to the composition of the arbitration team. But was it a mistake? Or was GAWU on a labour aristocracy trip. I will offer my opinion. GAWU deceived its membership. The die is cast.
The workers cannot reject the six per cent ruling. If they do, it will lead into the realm of chaos. Of course, there is a precedent for the sugar workers to follow. GPL conceded arbitration on six dismissed employees.
The judgement to reinstate was rebuffed by GPL. In one of my columns, I opined that it was an odious stance that the GPL took. Against this background, I would not agree for the estate employees to repudiate the findings of the Ganga inquiry.
Why did GAWU agree to Dr. Gobin Ganga as chairman of the referee panel? It was not a conflict of interest for him to accept the post of chairman of the panel, but a closer look reveals a disturbing direction.
Depending on how you look at it, it could be interpreted as a conflict of interest. Dr. Gobin Ganga is the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Guyana. This is a very sensitive state job that comes from Cabinet approval. The employee is a high level servant of the state.
Guysuco is intricately connected to the Bank of Guyana, because its income is so crucial to the economy that the Bank keeps a watchful eye on its operations.
Guysuco is a governmental institution. It is directly controlled by the Government. The Government appoints its board and senior employees.
At what point does the Bank of Guyana’s and Guysuco’s consideration of the economy coincide.That is easy to answer, but it is not relevant to the appointment as the arbitration chairman.
Dr. Ganga’s integrity is not the issue here. There is absolutely no reason why his integrity should be discussed. There is nothing negative known about this man.
I am sure Dr. Ganga would argue that he operated as a free agent, but the psychological pressure may have undermined that role. Could the state have seen Dr. Ganga in the same light if he had ruled in favour of the sugar workers? Would his tenure at the Central Bank have been revisited?
The safest way to ensure perfect impartiality was not to have someone with such a high level state job as Dr. Ganga to officiate in the dispute. From the time of the announcement, those organisations that I named above should have advised the gentleman not to arbitrate.
We all failed to pursue that avenue on behalf of the sugar workers. I am uncomfortable, too, with the membership of Mr. Norman Mc Lean on the panel.
Even though Mr. Mc Lean does not hold a public sector occupation, his involvement with the business community could have worked against the sugar workers. The argument happens to be the same in the case of Dr. Ganga.
We made the point that psychological pressure could have been present with the chairman; the same applies to Mr. Mc Lean.
It can be argued that Mr. Mc Lean could have contemplated the consequences for the business community had he sided with the 14 percent demand of the sugar workers.
With a global crisis taking on ominous proportions, a six per cent increase in wages and salaries is not, and should not be, acceptable to any category of workers in this country.
I believe very few Guyanese understand what is happening with the American crisis. The average Guyanese are not familiar with its constituent parts, but all the indications are pointing towards a second Great Depression.
Six percent becomes irrelevant in such disastrous times. Returning to the composition of the arbitration panel, we hope that other types of workers do not follow that destructive path that GAWU took its members down.
This particular situation should be a lesson for all trade unions in this country.
Be careful who the persons are that decide on your bread and butter.
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