Paying severance to sugar workers is not a favour, it is the law

Oct 25, 2018 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
Thursday, October 18, was another day of shame, disgrace and infamy for Guyana.
The President, the Prime Minister and the APNU+AFC Ministers and MPs treated sugar workers as if they were not part of Guyana, while embracing a small group of counter-protesters organized by APNU+AFC to intimidate and harass peaceful sugar workers. They also ignored a group of Rastafarians protesting for the decriminalization of marijuana.
APNU+AFC’s dishonesty and hypocrisy know no bounds. It has been almost a year since more than 4,500 sugar workers were fired when three estates were closed. The government paid them just about half their severance about four months later. Now coming up to almost a year since they were retrenched, APNU+AFC has still not paid them the other half.
There are also another 2,500 workers who were retrenched earlier after Wales Estate was closed. Some of these are yet to be paid their severance, two years later. Last week, confronted in person and under pressure from protesting sugar workers, President Granger promised them they will be paid as soon as Parliament meet again. Parliament met on Thursday, October 18. There was a notice of a Supplementary Budget to be considered by Parliament on October 30. This Supplementary Budget is for $7.5B, about $2.4B of this is intended to pay the sugar workers who are owed severance.
Thursday, October 18 also revealed huge advertisement in the daily newspapers, costing millions of dollars, with the Finance Minister gloating that APNU+AFC is doing a favour by paying sugar workers their severance. It is gross dishonesty for APNU+AFC to beat their chest and huff and puff as if they are doing the sugar workers a favour.
Paying the severance is neither a favour for sugar workers nor any sort of generosity. Paying the severance will end the egregious violation of the law. In fact, the payment should now include interest owed on the late payments. If an advertisement costing millions had to be made, it should have been to apologize to the workers and their families. Hopefully, the Opposition will insist that the President and his ministers apologize to the workers.
Many of those workers were present Thursday in front of Parliament. The President came to speechify in Parliament, but ignored the workers, drove past them, never acknowledging them. The Prime Minister too walked past the workers, never even signaling that he noticed them. This is the man who not so long ago deemed himself the “champion of sugar workers”. Not a single APNU+AFC Minister, not a single APNU+AFC MP chose to acknowledge the sugar workers. They were invisible, at the least, and worse, less than human.
But, disgustingly, several of Granger’s Ministers and MPs graced the presence of a loud and intimidating group organized by APNU+AFC to harass and intimidate the sugar workers. They even infiltrated a group of Rastafarians who were there to peacefully advocate for the decriminalization of marijuana.
The Leader of the Opposition, Bharat Jagdeo and his MPs acknowledged the presence of both sugar workers and the Rastafarians. They engaged them in discussion and offered their solidarity. These Jagdeo-led PPP MPs showed their humanity, identifying with their Guyanese sisters and brothers of different races, different political affiliation and ideas. In contrast, Granger, Nagamootoo and the APNU+AFC MPs ignored sugar workers and Rastafarians, only acknowledging their own-organized APNU+AFC protesters.
The severance payment is not likely until closer to year-end. If they are honest and care much about these sugar workers, there is no need to wait until Parliament meet again. Further, not all workers will receive their severance payments. The workers from Wales, many among the protesters, will not be paid the long-overdue severance.
The law has been breached. The violation continues, in spite of the President’s promise to end the breach. Shamefully, APNU+AFC is forcing poor workers and their families to wait a little longer. It is even more shameful because the President boasted that he and his government are keeping the promise of the “Good Life” for every Guyanese.
Dr. Leslie Ramsammy

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News