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Workers protest outside Wales Estate
– accuse Govt. of reneging on “better life” promise
Workers flocked the thoroughfare outside the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo)’s Wales Estate yesterday morning to protest an imminent closure of the Region Three facility.
Some of the Wales Estate workers protesting yesterday.
The cry echoed by the protesting workers was that closure of the estate will mean that the coalition government – A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance for Change – has reneged on a promise for “a better life for all Guyanese”.
This was emphasised by Mr. Gordon Thomas who claimed that he has worked at the West Bank Demerara estate for the past 24 years.
“If the Government had our interest at heart they wouldn’t close our factory. How can we have a good life when we will be out of our jobs?”
According to Thomas, he and his colleagues were privy to an official announcement of the plans for the closure last Wednesday.
“They told us that the estate will be closed this year by time October 1, and we are dissatisfied with this. They are saying that this estate is costing them the most, but they have to look at Skeldon which cost billions; Wales is not the high cost Estate,” a passionate Thomas stated.
He is convinced that the government has based its decision to close the estate on misinformation being shared by certain members of the board of the Estate.
“When you check the efficiency, Wales was third on the list…People are lying about this estate; they are lying to the Government. The Government is completely being misled.”
“Where are we going to go and find a good job after so many years of work? This is like a dead end for we,” Thomas lamented.
And he disclosed that the workers will continue to engage protest action until moves are made to reverse the decision.
“We don’t care what it cost; we will continue to protest…People from the factory, people from the fields, the office, everybody protesting. We will stand up with our last breath. We know this estate has potential,” Thomas said.
He said the protest is one that is intended to impress upon the decision makers that while the Wales estate is old, it has been performing.
Regarding the developing situation as critical, Randy Rampersaud, who has been working at the estate for the past 14 years, said that young people are likely to be the most affected.
“We have young children going to school. I am a young man with a wife and a child and I am worried about employment. Where am I going to go and get employment now and get some benefits? It wouldn’t be the same, even if I went to another estate,” Rampersaud said.
According to him, he is aware that there are plans to “retain a handful of workers and the rest will have to be on the breadline…and this estate has over 1,000 workers I average, so you can imagine what will happen.”
“Wales Estate has been the livelihood for so many of us over the years, I don’t think it would be wise to close it down,” said Regina McDonald, who insisted that such a move would be devastating. She has been working at the estate for over 14 years. Her sentiments were mirrored by Nadira George, a mother of five.
“Do they want us to thief? I have mouths to feed and they can’t do that to us.”
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