17, 000 sugar workers cannot be abandoned by the State

Oct 28, 2016 Letters

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Dear Editor,
While it is good news for Guysuco that $5.4 billion dollars have been received from the EU’s Accompanying Measures Programme which will be utilized under the Action Programme, the average sugar worker is yet to understand how these monies are being spent in ways which will propel the Corporation on the road to profitability.
It must be recalled that the Corporation achieved an unprecedented target going back to 11 years. It achieved 231,145 tonnes of sugar- exceeding the target by 3,702 tonnes. Despite this great achievement the sugar worker got a measly 3 day pay as bonus-no increase in wages and salaries. They produced and perished. The CEO had said that this achievement came about mainly because of motivated management, workers’ efforts and non-interference from politicians of the Government. What he failed to mention is the fact that the Corporation was reaping the rewards of improvements done under the PPP/C Government.
The bailout and the EU funds were well spent by that Government. It must be recalled also that the Corporation would normally be bringing forward canes to keep the mills grinding. This did not happen in 2015; there was adequate supply of canes to the mills and the crop husbandry methods had improved tremendously and this did not happen in 2015 only, it went back to the preceding years. Therefore, to simply attribute the Corporation’s improvement in 2015 to a change of the Board of Directors just defies simple logical deductions, especially when one looks at the huge increase in the bailout amounts.
It has moved from an annual amount of $6 billion under the PPP/C to $12 billion in 2015 to $12.5 billion in 2016. This is so despite unconscionable closing of the Wales Sugar Estates. The fact is that the billions are now being spent on building roads and nonsensical diversification programmes. It is commonsense that a company must never diverse in an area in which it lacks the necessary skills and knowledge. Why not stay with sugar and make the necessary investments? Stick with what you know more about and for which you are better suited.
Why not use the Wales Estate to produce cane juice which can be bottled or canned for the local and export markets? There is a huge demand for this and the price is far greater than sugar while the production cost will be far lesser. This Board will eventually sound the death knell of the sugar industry.
In addition, I have been reliably informed that Guysuco is exporting sugar to a Trinidadian firm which in turn exports it to the USA and other countries for a lucrative price of $700 US dollars per tonne. Why not Guysuco embarking on supplying this market? This Trinidad Company is actually making a profit of $300 US dollars per tonne. These quotas are given to cronies who give handsome kickbacks. This is another type of corruption which affects the profitability of the industry.
Moreover, with increased bailouts, a motivated management, no political interference and a new Board the sugar production for the first crop has fallen by 30%. The Corporation has only achieved 56,645 tons of the budgeted 80,269 tonnes- a massive decline of 23,624 tonnes. Many factors were suggested ranging from the adverse El Nino conditions, delays in tillage, planting and crop husbandry operations, however, many of these factors if not all are controllable and should have been addressed by a proactive Board and management.
Are we to believe that the annual target was set at 241,000 tonnes without due consideration to these factors? Even in an El Nino situation fields can be irrigated to alleviate the negative effects on the sugar canes. The decline of 12.25 tonnes of canes per hectare could have been lower if proper crop husbandry was done. What was the Chairman of the Board doing? What were the CEO and his management team doing?
How can efficiency and productivity be increased when the workers’ wages are declining and their standard of living is being eroded with each passing day? Will this motivate 17,000 workers to be committed to work? Will this boost their morale? This will initiate a vicious circle much to the detriment of the sugar industry but I guess this is the aim of this Government since the Commission of Inquiry has stated in no uncertain terms that Guysuco will be privatized within the next couple of years.
In conclusion, the Government must give some assistance to the sugar workers by even subsidizing their electricity and water bills. This can lessen the impact of the current wage freeze situation which has no solution in sight. This is being done in Linden where an annual electricity subsidy of $3 billion dollars is being given by the Government. Sugar workers gave more than $100 billion dollars as sugar levy from 1974 to 2003 yet today they are being treated most unfairly.
This punitive measure resulted in the decline of the sugar industry or else today it would have been more competitive. Therefore, it is the duty of this Government to do that if they are truly interested to save the sugar industry. The 17,000 workers are the life blood of the industry and they must be assisted to stem their increased cost of living in order to resuscitate the industry and initiate its survival. Workers must not be penalized for the current state of Guysuco
Haseef Yusuf

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