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Wales sugar workers strike for outstanding wages

Feb 18, 2012 News

 

The financial woes of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) have led to yet another strike in the industry. This time, some sugar workers attached to the Wales Sugar Estate, took their concerns to the street yesterday, demanding payments of outstanding moneys.
According to Gordon Thomas, representative of Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), workers are dissatisfied with the outcome of a meeting held between the Union and GuySuCo on Thursday, which was expected to address several pertinent issues, primarily the payment of incentives and retroactive payments for January 1 to December 31, 2011.
He related that GuySuCo was expected to implement the new salary rates as agreed according to a Job Evaluation that was done. However, GuySuCo is asking workers to forfeit last year’s retroactive and allow the new rates to be implemented from January 2012.
Thomas said that is an extremely unfair request of GuySuCo, since sugar workers represented by the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) have already benefited from increases via the Job Evaluation.
According to Paul Bhim, Chief Executive Officer, the Job Evaluation for workers under GAWU is incomplete and negotiations are ongoing with the Union.
However, he stated that the payment of incentives has been delayed because GuySuCo does not have money. Bhim added that sugar would have to be produced and sold before workers receive incentives.
This notion was rejected by workers who argued that they produced sugar last year and therefore should have been paid.
Thomas stated, “We are supposed to have our Annual Production Incentive at the end of our crop based on the amount of sugar produced. We are entitled to a little over seven percent for the amount of sugar we produced last year which was over 230,000 tons.”
He emphasised that GuySuCo is now demanding that sugar workers produce 16,000 tons of sugar before they are paid their outstanding incentives.
Some workers are determined to continue the strike until they are paid their incentives or at least receive an initial payment.
According to a factory worker, Hussein, workers would not work until GuySuCo gives a proper response. “We already tek debt pon the money, thinking that the money would have been paid on Friday,” he stated.

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