The impending closure of the WALES sugar factory

Jun 12, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,

In seven months, the Wales Sugar Factory will be closed resulting in a loss of thousands of jobs directly and indirectly. This is a dramatic development that calls for a quick response from the government. This is no ordinary event to be taken lightly or in stride by the Minister of Agriculture or the government. The time to act is now because the welfare of thousands are at stake. The consequences are severe for the employees, their families and businesses in and around the area. Of course, on the day of the closing tempers will flare, but it will be up to the government to cool them.
As it now stands, 1500 workers will be thrown onto the breadline in the worst case scenario where the likely compensation will be a few months’ salary. This is a bitter pill to swallow, especially for long-serving employees who stand to lose their health benefits and a portion of theirpension. The impact of the losses will not only affect the 1500 employees, it will trickle down and across to affect entire families and communities where there are concentrations of persons employed by the estate. The government should move quickly to limit the consequences and cushion the impact of those who will be affected.
The government should work with the union to put together a team of individuals with the ability to assist the workers and their families and to collect the data needed to understand, anticipate and plan for the full ramifications of the job losses at Wales and nearby villages. And if needs be, the workers and others who will be affected should be given financial advice, individual and family counselling, social support and guidance on employment and business opportunities. There should be resources set aside to help ease the burdens of the employees and their families. Losing a job is difficult for most persons, but it is far more nerve-racking, especially if those persons are the only wage earners in the household.
Given the current economic climate, the Government needs to be proactive in anticipating the impact of the closing of the Wales Sugar Factory on the people and the community. They should not be left to cope on their own. If that happens, the financial hardship and the social impact could spiral into additional burdens which could lead to turmoil in the community as well as in the sugar industry. Uneasiness is settling over the sugar estates which could further cripple the sugar industry and the economy. The recent strike at the Rose Hall Estate is testimony to the uneasiness of the workers there. There must be empathy for sugar workers all across the country because of the back-breaking labor which they have to endure.
Months of indecisions, foot-dragging and half-hearted attempts to tackle the serious issues in the sugar industry have become putrid and the government has only itself to blame. It has not come-up with an alternative plan about the future of Wales and the other sugar estates. There are many problems that are hampering the chance to turn-around GUYSUCO and neither its management nor the government has offered any short term solutions let alone a long term resolution to the problems. In the absence of a solution, the taxpayers will be burdened to continue to subsidize the sugar industry by some G$10 billion yearly. Unless the government finds a solution, the subsidy may continue forever because closing GUYSOCO is not an option.
The closing of the Wales Sugar Factory will hang around the government’s neck like the proverbial albatross but it is not the first to be closed. Former President Bharat Jagdeo closed the Diamond and the La Bonne Intention sugar estates in 2003 so it is hypocritical for him and his PPites to criticize this government for closing the Wales Estate.
These are difficult times, given the fall in prices for sugar, but even so, there are better and worst ways to handle the sugar industry. The onus is on the Government to choose the better way. The government has to show the workers at Wales that it respects and cares about them.
Dr. Asquith Rose

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