7,000 affected by closure of estates

Sep 05, 2018 News

– GAWU President
— Jagdeo says Granger commits to pay severance, but gave no timeline

Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo said that he was pleased that the government has finally decided to pay off the severances to all sugar workers affected by the closures of estates.

Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo

Jagdeo said that during a meeting between him and President David Granger last week, the President said that all the workers will be paid.
The Opposition Leader told the media, “I raised the question of the sugar workers and their struggle to get the remainder of their severance. I said to the President, ‘this is money that is due to them, they worked for this, this is not a hand out; they should not be struggling for or begging for this. It is mandated by a law.”
“I asked when they (the workers) will receive the severance. So he said to me that they have taken a position to pay the severance but I could not get a time when they will pay. He only said they took a decision.”
Jagdeo said that he also spoke to the President about the “confusion” with the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).
He said that the President told him that GuySuCo now falls squarely under the Ministry of Agriculture and not the Special Purpose Unit of the National Industrial and Commercial Investment Limited (NICIL).
Jagdeo told the media, “And I said to him, ‘but Mr. President you have, by order, transferred all the assets of the closed estates from GuySuCo to NICIL and you have also transferred 100 percent of the shares of GuySuCo to NICIL. Further, NICIL has borrowed $17M that they already have in an account and they are out in the market to borrow another $13 or $14M. So they have money they were borrowing on behalf of GuySuCo and you are saying they have no responsibility and that it is the Ministry of Agriculture.”
Further, Jagdeo said that he pointed out to the President that NICIL reported that it gave $2B to GuySuCo “so what are they doing with the $15M, what are they going to spend it on, if they are not responsible for GuySuCo what are they doing with the money. So I told him we would like to see the severance paid early to the workers who have been laid off.

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