GAWU is problematic

Jul 16, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor:

The Guyana Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) which was formed in 1961 to represent the sugar workers has become both a liability and problematic for GUYSUCO and for the overall development of the country. Its ability to represent the workers and its views and understanding of development are outdated. GAWU has become a 20th century organization in that its main priority is to collect union dues from the sugar workers and provide them with poor representation.

During the last few years, a small minority of sugar cane workers have and continued to be “misled” by the leaders of GAWU pertaining to the facts in the sugar industry. Our research has revealed that the leaders of GAWU are not being honest with their members. Rather than criticising the management of GUYSUCO, we strongly believe that the powers that be within the union should disclose to its members its financial resources and its total assets.

We have uncovered that as of June 30, 2022, GAWU has amassed over $900 million in liquid assets and that it has spent almost $100 million to renovate its headquarters from the resources garnered from the ordinary workers. In addition, its leaders are living a Cadillac lifestyle while its workers are struggling to feed their children and make ends meet. Like other unions in the Caribbean and elsewhere that have pension plans for their workers, GAWU does not have any such plan for its workers, and it does not intend to establish one. So the question is what is GAWU doing with such huge assets that really belong to the sugar workers.?

In this high inflationary period, the Government has and continues to provide financial assistance to the sugar workers, but the leaders of GAWU have not given a dime to them. As a case in point, the government has given $200,000 to the workers at Uitvlugt during the time they were side-lined when the estate had ceased operation because of a broken gear box. Instead of assisting the sugar workers, some of the leaders of GAWU went on a lavish excursion trip to Rome, Italy.

Is it true that the sugar workers are paying more than $150 million annually in union dues deductions to GAWU but very little if any is given back to the workers during hard times? which, means that the only purpose of GAWU is to take almost 10% of the workers income to pay for the extravagant lifestyle of the union leadership, many of whom drive the most expensive cars in the country. And to make matters worse, for decades, there has been no public audit of the accounts of GAWU or its financial assets.

After being out of production for more than three months, the union called a strike on the same day that the Uitvlugt sugar factory had restarted production. This disingenuous action by the union leaders is designed to give the impression that they are for the workers but, they are not, because they are denying them the opportunity to work and earn a decent salary to maintain their families. It is common knowledge that GAWU is abusing and misleading the sugar workers into believing that they deserve higher wages even though GUYSUCO is not profitable and that it depends on subsidies from the government to keep it afloat. The government should not tolerate such reckless, carefree, and anti-social behaviour from GAWU’s leaders. The government must act and hold GAWU accountable if GUYSUCO is to become solvent.

From all indications, GAWU is trying to destroy the work ethics in the sugar industry and by extension, in the country. It has become a problematic organization in that its leaders are disconnected from reality and from the interests of the working class in the country, especially the sugar workers whom it represents. Maybe the union leadership is confused into thinking that they do not have to answer to anyone, or maybe, they do not care about the welfare of the sugar workers.

Francis McGowan,
Employee of GUYSUCO

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