Sugar union says GuySuCo is beating a worn-out drum

May 27, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
It is a known fact that the majority of sugar workers are far from being fully employed throughout the year. GuySuCo may wish to publish the statistics of days per year, an average worker is offered work at their regular pay level, and the statistics should differentiate the seasons of, in and out-of-crop. The statistics should clearly show whether GuySuCo is offering work that could adequately sustain an employee’s financial and economic needs. It should be pointed out that contractually, workers are required to work 80 percent of the work days available to them to work, to qualify for certain benefits and continuous employment, and they generally have always qualified. So, let’s see how many days per year has GuySuCo been offering work to the majority of workers per year and since they are very good at providing statistics, this request should be quite easy.
Ms Thomas, GuySuco’s spokeperson in her recent letter, speaks to the refusal by cane planters of Enmore/LBI to take up cane cutting tasks. We urge the Corporation’s Officer to consult her superiors on this matter. She would learn that there are certain jobs that planters would undertake whenever they are not required to plant canes. Cane cutting is not one of those tasks. The Corporation’s Communication Officer would also be made aware that arising out of a meeting with the Corporation and the Union, GuySuCo undertook to provide the planters their usual non-planting tasks. That undertaking was, however, betrayed.
On this score, would it be fair to ask Ms Thomas and her colleagues at the GuySuCo Head Office as employees of the Corporation to undertake cane cutting tasks at Enmore/LBI or any other estate. Certainly, this would be outside of their competence and abilities and they would, under any circumstance, bluntly refuse such instruction. We remind GuySuCo what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
Our Union is also criticized by GuySuCo for advising the Wales workers – cane cutters and cane transport operators – of their rights as outlined by the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act (TESPA). You should know Ms Thomas that our Union is obligated legally and morally to advice workers of their rights. Moreover, how could our Union knowingly set a precedent which runs contrary to the laws of the land? That would be foolhardy on the Union’s part. Moreover, while GuySuCo talks about the seeming desperate need by Uitvlugt for the Wales workers, we ask that if this was indeed the case how is it that Uitvlugt’s workforce was able to harvest all of that estate’s canes, without any assistance from Wales, and then went on to assist at Enmore/LBI?
We are supportive of the Corporation’s intention to have Uitvlugt produce 40,000 tonnes of sugar. Our Union does not want to see advanced any further thought of additional estate closures though the Corporation’s language can be considered as threatening. At the same time, we ask why similar approaches can’t be taken with other estates towards improving production and productivity.
Our Union as we have said umpteen times is committed to seeing the sugar industry succeed and overcoming its difficulties and challenges. We have publicly shared our thoughts on how such feats could be reached. The GAWU also has grave reservations about GuySuCo thoughts on sugar’s future as enunciated in the recently released ‘State Paper’. We strongly hold that it will do more harm than good. Those ideas, if implemented, will serve to destroy the well-being of thousands of poor, ordinary Guyanese and upset significantly the social fabric in many communities across the sugar belt. We ask how any organization can be supportive of such plans?
We see the Corporation’s missive as the beating of a worn out drum. The GAWU would not be daunted by the spurious attacks that are levelled against us. We will continue to hold steadfastly to those principles which have guided us since our inception and which have served us well during our existence and will not cower in the face of adversity and challenges which is essentially, an assault on thousands of workers in the sugar industry and which threaten their jobs and livelihoods and affects also our country’s economy. We shall forever stand resolutely to support the workers whenever their rights are being trampled upon, and in this sense GAWU finds that the Corporation is seemingly worried on this principled stance.
Seepaul Narine
General Secretary
GAWU

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Sugar union says GuySuCo is beating a worn-out drum

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