Five days’ bonus for sugar workers

Dec 14, 2013 News

As the country’s sugar industry races to satisfy an adjusted 190,000 tonne target before December 21, union officials and the Guyana Sugar Corporation yesterday managed to hammer out an agreement over production bonus.
According to Paul Bhim, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), sugar workers are to be paid five days’ pay. The amounts will be paid in two tranches, one on January 3, and the other on March 14, 2014.
The agreement with the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union

An agreement has been reached for sugar workers to receive five days’ pay in production bonus.

(GAWU) will be signed on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, sugar workers downed tools over the traditional year-end production bonus which GuySuCo said it is unable to pay. All eight estates were closed but the workers turned out back on Thursday.
GAWU had been demanding almost seven days pay. Under the agreement, Bhim said yesterday, one day’s pay will be equivalent to 37,000 tonnes of sugar produced.
GuySuCo is facing tense times with production revised drastically downwards from 260,000 tonnes in January to 190,000 tonnes. It will be the lowest in almost 23 years.
This is in face of reduced work force, poor weather and a price cut.
Technical issues with its factories have also been a major pain.
Yesterday, the production was around 186,000 tonnes with just eight days remaining before the estates close for the holidays on December 21.