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Govt., unions and workers are all responsible for the chaos in the sugar industry

Nov 29, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
Kaieteur News (28/11/2010) carried a story “Don’t blame us! – GAWU tells Berbice Chambers.” This is the most ludicrous statement made by GAWU when most of the blame lay at their feet.
GAWU said, “Neither GAWU nor its members can be blamed for the Skeldon Sugar Factory’s failures and the other numerous examples of GuySuCo’s mismanagement.” Listed below are some things GAWU has been directly responsible for:
– GAWU represents at least 80 percent of sugar workers;
– There is a 50 percent absenteeism of sugar workers;
– The union refuses to sit on GuySuCo Board;
– In 2009 GuySuCo accounted for 229 of the 304 strikes in the country;
– When compared to 2008, total man–days lost increased by 41.5 percent to 130,171 and wages lost increased by 49.3 percent to $273.9 million;
– When the union called off the present strike only 20 percent of the workers returned;
– Workers are refusing to cut and stack the canes;
– At Rose Hall, two gangs are on strike demanding $4,000 per bed to cut stale canes, while management is offering $1000 per bed;
– For the first time in over four years, Guyana has enough cane on the ground, but not enough workers;
– GuySuCo adjusted the target from 300,000 tonnes to 264,000 tonnes, yet the workers sabotaged it;
– While in the past there was resistance to the semi-mechanized bell loaders, now workers are turning around and refusing to fetch the canes after cutting them.
GuySuCo has over $7B in debts with $1.6B due to a Dutch-owned bank. It is very clear that the Government, sugar unions and sugar workers are at least 80 percent responsible for the state of affairs in the industry.
Mohamed Yusuf

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