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No pay for sugar workers

Dec 04, 2009 News

Sugar workers across the country will not be paid today.
This was confirmed last evening by President of the Guyana Agricultural & General Workers Union (GAWU), Komal Chand, who related to this newspaper in an invited comment that he was informed by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) that the company was experiencing cash flow problems and as such could not pay its workers today.
Chand yesterday said that his union, upon learning of the news, immediately commenced informing the workers.
This newspaper has learnt that a shipment of sugar that was supposed to leave Guyana last week has not yet left and that the transport ship has still not arrived in the country.
GuySuCo last evening issued a statement advising that the company is temporarily experiencing cash flow difficulties, due to the delay in one of its sugar vessels. According to the official, in the GuySuCo correspondence, the temporary cash flow shortfall has affected the corporation’s ability to meet its wages bill for the current week, “and it is working feverishly to find alternative arrangements; so as to ensure workers are paid for this week at the earliest opportunity.”  The company was adamant that the situation was unavoidable due to external factors.
“The Unions representing the workers have been previously apprised of this potential difficulty and we appreciate their understanding at this point in time.”
GuySuCo also took the opportunity to state that the situation is a reminder of the financial difficulties of the company has well ventilated; as it continues to embark on the implementation of its turnaround plan.
Mere days ago another strike crippled the sugar industry, as almost 3,000 workers from the Rose Hall estate withdrew their labour.
That strike was in reaction to the company’s withdrawal of a day’s pay earned by the workers for not producing sugar to meet the week’s Weekly Production Incentive (WPI) target of 1,350 tonnes. The money was subsequently paid to the workers.
GuySuCo’s CEO Errol Hanoman at that time had told Kaieteur News that the sugar company had investigated the matter, as the technical team, comprising of auditors had to check the figures to verify whether or not the workers met the WPI.
Hanoman said there is a view that the WPI was not met by the workers, but the figures indicated differently, and thus workers were paid.
“We don’t want to rush and pay and then a mistake is made at a cost of $6 million,” Hanoman had said.

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