Albion sugar workers protest poor management of GuySuCo

Jul 29, 2022 News

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Kaieteur News – Shop stewards of the Albion Sugar Estate on Wednesday staged a spirited picketing exercise outside of the estate, calling for better management of the industry.

The stewards are renewing their calls on behalf of the workers of the estate that there must be an examination of the management of the Corporation. “The workers and the stewards remain concerned that the estate and the industry continue to experience serious challenges. They shared that they had high expectations by now that they would have seen great improvement in the estate’s production and productivity. They said they recognised that the estate was challenged by the floods. However, having regard to they indicated that it does not appear there is a concerted plan to meaningfully reverse the damages,” the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union said in a release.

In addition, the stewards recognised according to GAWU that the GuySuCo continues to advance targets well more than current production and productivity. “The stewards remain at a loss for such formulations. They felt that there was a need to be honest and forthright. It is from this basis that correct and appropriate interventions could be made to meaningfully address the challenges being encountered. It was felt that if over ambitious numbers were advanced and consistently not realised it would paint an unfortunate picture.”

The stewards shared that given the current situation they felt that the current management of the Corporation needed to be seriously evaluated. They indicated that they held the belief that the given the Government’s much needed support the industry should be placed in better hands to ensure that GuySuCo can be returned to sustainability. At this time, they are hopeful that someone in authority can reasonably consider their serious concerns.

Back in June, President of GAWU, Seepaul Narine had used his Enmore Martyrs’ Day speech to call for the sacking of the corporation’s CEO, Sasenarine Singh. Singh’s tenure at the helm of the ailing sugar corporation has repeatedly come under attack owing to the lack of improvements despite billions being pumped into it. “We cannot allow the slide to continue. As the saying goes “heads must roll” and this should start from the topmost executive,” Narine had told the gathering which included President Irfaan Ali and other top government officials.

Narine had said that GAWU remains apprehensive “as we considered the recently concluded first crop. It simply was an appalling performance, the lowest first crop output in the history of the Corporation. We have heard the explanations of weather, labour and machinery. Such rationales, we contend, are over exemplified to obscure the real issue which is poor leadership and management of the industry.” According to Narine, the degeneration has reached to the point where workers Credit Union savings deducted from their wages are not remitted.

President Ali also earlier in June at a meeting with senior officials of GuySuCo had emphasised that it cannot be “business as usual anymore” and there must be sweeping changes. According to him, the corporation does not belong to any individual or group, but to the country. “We are not investing all of these resources in GuySuCo for failure. The restructuring and strengthening of GuySuCo is not a joke. When we said we want to make this industry viable, it is not a mystery.” “Success does not start with money, success starts with the right attitude, success starts with teams, success starts with people and if we can’t get this fundamentally right, then we have no hope of being successful—absolutely no hope of being successful,” President Ali said.

GuySuCo last year produced 30,865MT less of sugar when compared with 2020. Based on a report, GuySuCo’s pre-audited production stood at 58,025MT of sugar in 2021 compared to 88,890MT in 2020. Despite the significant shortfall, the Corporation had said it met all the needs of the local market for 2021. It was explained that the shortfall was a result of the loss of some 35 percent of the standing cane during the 2nd Crop of 2021 due to the flood. “At Albion, where 50 percent of the production was programmed to be made, the mortality rate for the standing canes planned to be harvested for the 1st Crop of 2022 is estimated at 80 percent due to the floods. On the Berbice Estates where more than 77 percent of the production is made, the rainfalls in 2021 were 72 percent more than the previous year,” GuySuCo detailed, while noting that it drained some 4.5 million tonnes of water off the land daily during the 65-day flood.

 

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