Maybe NICIL can help the sugar workers too

Feb 27, 2020 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

I noticed in a February 26, 2020 article published by another newspaper that the state-owned NICIL covered the salaries for the workers who were/are linked to the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc (BCGI) for the month of February, 2020. From the article, I learnt that the workers received their pay following a request by the workers union to the Government. This, undoubtedly, was a most helpful gesture by the Coalition which obviously recognizes the straits the BCGI workers have found themselves in.
Though heartened by this development, I also noticed the same newspaper reporting that sugar workers again picketed the President’s Office on February 25, 2020. The workers, I gather, were also calling on the Government for assistance for them to benefit from retroactive payments for 2019. Those payments I see would amount to some $400M and would be a one-time affair.
I believe given the apparent benefactory role the APNU+AFC has seemingly embraced over the last few days, I would want to think that the Government could also assist the sugar workers who themselves are facing difficulty. Certainly, like it did for the BCGI workers, the NICIL could be the vehicle for such assistance. I believe NICIL support can be justified considering I have been reading that hundreds of acres of sugar lands are being sold-off for the touted City of Ogle. Undoubtedly, the sugar workers should also benefit from the windfall NICIL says it’s enjoying for the sugar lands it said it has sold.

Yours faithfully,
Liebert Alleyne

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