Get workers on board

Aug 19, 2009 Editorial

It was reported that there was a difference in emphasis between the President and the head of the sugar union, GAWU, as to what may have been the most significant reason for the precipitous recent decline of production in the sugar industry.
The President evidently felt that weather conditions were paramount while the union protested that “poor management” was the culprit. Apart from the fact that the difference of opinion belied accusations of “control” of the union by the government, it once again highlighted the need for greater collaboration between all the stakeholders involved in an industry that all concede, is in for a very testing period.
While the nationalised sugar industry has supposedly been “owned and operated by the people of Guyana” since 1976, in reality not much has changed in the relationship between owners and workers – with the government sliding into the seat formerly occupied by Bookers and the union agitating for workers’ wages and better working conditions.
We hope that the continued threat to the survival of the most important industry in our country through a confluence of challenges from the market, the weather, the workers and management weaknesses and cane supply will convince the administration that we need to think outside the box to confront those challenges.
We would like to resubmit a suggestion proffered before in this space: the restructuring of the Board of Directors of GuySuCo, both in terms of its functional mandate and its composition. We will develop the latter aspect of the proposal in this editorial and will return to the former subsequently.
We believe that, as President Jagdeo pointed out, the enthusiastic participation of the workers in the execution of the recovery plan of the corporation is absolutely crucial for its recovery and any eventual sustainable profitability. One way to secure this commitment is to appoint workers’ representatives to the Board of GuySuCo.
A perennial complaint of sugar workers has been the asymmetrical access to information about the operations of the corporation, especially as it relates to its finances. This led to a great deal of cynicism about the corporation’s claims of financial hardship – especially when workers sought to negotiate wage increases.
The union’s current claims about management’s culpability in the corporation’s decline as apposed to the President’s could very well also be due to the same asymmetry of access to information. The presence of workers’ representatives would resolve this conflict. It would also give the Board a most valuable ground-level perspective when formulating strategies and policies for management.
Lest we be accused of wild-eyed radicalism, we would like to point out that workers’ representatives on corporate boards in one form or another are standard practice in the majority of EU member-countries – with its largest and most prosperous economy, Germany, being its most full-blooded practitioner.
In Germany, the system is known as “co-determination” (Mitbestimmung) and is mandatory for all large corporations, including global players such as Siemens and Deutsche Bank. While the number of workers’ representatives on Boards is 50% for the largest corporations (more than 2000 employees) in Germany, we would suggest that we begin with 30% in our circumstance. The representatives are allowed to keep 10% of their director’s remuneration (the unions assert that they do not desire “careerist motivations” to unduly influence members to become representatives) and the remainder is contributed to an independent workers’ foundation fund.
As we have reiterated time and again in this space, now is not the time for recriminations in the sugar industry, either from within or without. With all the challenges we have alluded to above, we do not foresee that such a time will appear in the near future. We cannot afford the historic antagonistic relationship between workers and owners/management – and neither can the latter parties. This relationship, however, will only change when we offer all sides an equitable stake in directing the fate of the industry. Workers will not then be able to assert that they are not responsible for the performance of management.

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