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Sugar workers petition President for pay increase
Sugar workers have petitioned President David Granger for a pay increase. This is according to a statement issued by the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU). According to GAWU, approximately 3,500 sugar workers submitted a petition to President David Granger, to approve the increase.
Sugar workers are complaining about a decline in their earnings
According to the statement, this took place on October 2, 2019, as sugar workers engaged in the fields and factories of Albion, Blairmont and Uitvlugt Estates to seek the President and his Government to approve an increase in their wages.
The statement noted that the petition indicated that they have been working for the same rates-of-pay since 2015, although the cost of living has significantly risen in the ensuing period.
Factors including lessened crop weeks, restriction of certain benefit and suspension of other long-standing conditions-of-work among other things have declined the earnings of the sugar workers, the statement claimed.
The workers lamented that the situation has gotten them and their families “between a rock and a hard place”.
The workers, through their petition, shared that they were of the view that the Government of Guyana, as the owner of the industry, had a responsibility to ensure that they benefit from adequate compensation to maintain their standard of living and thus avoiding impoverishment.
On this note, GAWU pointed out the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights at Article 23(3):
“Everyone who works has the right to favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplement, if necessary, by other means of social protection”.
According to the statement, GAWU said, “Our country as a full-fledged member of the UN should take note of what the declaration says, recognising that it is considered one of the main documents of the organization.”
The declaration at Article 25(1) states, “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care, and necessary social services …”
According to GAWU, “It was highlighted by the nation’s workers that they are an important tenet in the long-term sustainability of the sugar industry. Consequently, the President should use his powers as president to have the Guyana Sugar Corporation approve an appropriate rise in pay at their upcoming negotiations with the GAWU.”
The workers, GAWU said, are eagerly looking forward to hearing from the President regarding their petition. “They shared that it has been a challenging period for them as well as their families, and an improvement in pay will really go a long way in easing the burdens and difficulties they are experiencing.”
In addition, GAWU said that it is also hopeful that the President will consider the workers cries knowing that they are supportive voices in the industry who have advocated that the workers be awarded an improvement in their pay.
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