GAWU wants more answers on Enmore packaging plant lease

Mar 12, 2022 Sports

The Enmore Packaging Plant

Kaieteur News – Among other questions to be asked regarding the leasing of the US multimillion dollar Enmore packaging plant, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union(GAWU) will seek to ascertain the cost at which the facility will be leased when it meets with the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) next week.
This was related to the Kaieteur News yesterday when an update was sought as to whether the union had received any more information regarding the arrangement that will have a direct impact on union members employed at the facility. Like the rest of the country, GAWU had only learnt of leasing discussions after government announced same at the energy conference and expo held at the Marriot Hotel last month.
Arrangements regarding the leased packaging plant to a 52 percent Guyanese owned joint venture called Guysons K+B Industries Inc. (GKB) to be repurposed to serve some of the oil industry’s manufacturing needs, is one for public focus since arrangements surrounding the construction of the facility prior to 2011 was a source of contention. Back then, the building cost had moved from US$2M to a whopping US$12.M, more than two billion Guyana dollars, when Surendra Engineering out of India was contracted for the job.
What is more notable, is that even after the opening of the facility, the project, which was touted as the lifeline for the sugar industry, received heavy criticism after news reporters made public that the facility was not operating at full capacity due to equipment that was plagued by mechanical issues at the time. It was also revealed by the local media fraternity that the facility had not provided that large number of jobs as promised.
General Secretary for GAWU, Aslim Singh, told the newspaper yesterday that the union will be meeting with GuySuCO while adding that they intend to clarify matters of concern regarding workers and how they will fit into the new dispensation.
The union was asked its views on the move to lease the plant and whether they felt that the facility had given Guyanese its money’s worth. To this end, Aslim said, “We are having a meeting with GuySuCo next week on this exact issue. We will better be able to answer next week.”
While the packing plant will be leased to a more than 50 percent owned Guyanese-owned company, some concerned parties are skeptical of the arrangement which involves the spending of more tax dollars to construct a new building to house the Enmore packaging plant’s equipment in Berbice, and possibly, the hiring and training of new staff.
Details have not yet been released, but comments are already surfacing regarding the lease sum in comparison to the US$12.5M used to build a facility that is yet to meet its full potential.
In 2012, KN staff had visited the plant to investigate the non-performing facility and was denied entrance. Managers there had said that GuySuCo had chosen to meet bulk sugar orders which were paying more than packaged sugar and so a decision was taken to focus its attention there while the plant itself sat idle.
The GAWU noted however that so far they were “heartened’ by the government’s commitment to respect the rights of the workers. GAWU said it was able to bargain for the workers and a commitment was given that the 30-odd persons would not end up on the breadline but would be incorporated into the facility’s new oil and gas arrangements.

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