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Albion Estate workers bemoan late payment of wages, incentives during meeting with WIN leader
(Kaieteur News) – Workers attached to the Albion Sugar Estate, Corentyne, Berbice on Friday vented their frustrations about not receiving timely payment of wages and incentives promised to leader of the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party Azruddin Mohamed.
Mohamed was invited by the workers to hear their grievances after what they say has been a failure of the estate’s management to fulfil promised made by President Irfaan Ali during a visit to the estate.
Several workers confirmed an arrangement in place that gives four days out-of-crop instead of six.
Scores of workers meet Leader of WIN, Azruddin Mohamed on Friday at the Albion Estate, Berbice.
“(President) Irfaan (Ali) come and tell us $6,000 for six hours work. Now the management coming and tell us 6-4 hours work for the same $6,000. And a next thing: they gave us an increase, and the $6,000 wuh (President) Irfaan (Ali) give us, they still giving us the $6,000 without the increase. They tek back the increase,” a worker lamented.
Another male worker bemoaned the unfavorable economic impact of the unstable payment system.
“For the whole holiday we didn’t get no money…GuySuCo provides four days’ work a week for you. $6,000. They said 9% add in to the same &6,000, we still getting $6,000. We got to pay NIS, got to pay tax, you got to send your children school, you got to get food in yuh pot buddy,” he said.
In addition to that, he highlighted that the workers had anticipated their one-week holiday with pay, but they are yet to receive their pay slips and are wholly uncertain as to their wages today.
The workers stated that management communicated its lack of sufficient funds for the one-week holiday and the four-day work.
Leader of the WIN party, Azruddin Mohamed
Another issue raised was that of canes not being retrieved from the designated area after their harvesting. In addition to this, the workers mentioned that they are not afforded a precise figure of the weight to be able to assess their performance. As such, they believe their wages are determined by management’s discretion.
“Most of the time when you cut cane at estate, you don’t know exactly what you’re working for. You just cutting this cane, leffin’ this cane on the ground, them men this come and pick up the cane and load it and carry it there and they give you what they feel like. So, you don’t know exactly what you’re working for in this place…them men giving cane cutters what they feel like,” another frustrated cane harvester explained.
Other concerns mounted pertained to being injured on the job and not receiving due compensation, and collection less than what was toiled for. One worker said that his peers are not lazy noting that with the rising cost of living, they should be adequately compensated.
“Indeed, that have some people who want to work and some who don’t want to work. Point taken, but the people that want to work, why is it that you’re underpaying the people them? Cost of living going up every day. You want to pay people $5,000 a day…that can’t pay people,” he contended.
In response to the concerns raised, Mohamed told the workers that they deserve to be properly compensated while noting that he remembers the promises made.
“I can recall, the president visited the estate at Albion, and he promised six days out-of-crop, they promised the retroactive from January to August, they promised incentives, they promised to raise salaries, and presently, all the promises are false promises,” the WIN leader posited while committing to continue advocating for the workers.
Gobin Harbhajan, WIN’s representative in Region Six told the workers that the matter needs to be properly ventilated in Parliament.
“As you know, what’s happening right now in Parliament, we can’t go to represent you there, we have to come in the streets and do it…elections finished in September, up to date we have not gone into Parliament to even represent any of you here,” the WIN MP stressed.
Meanwhile, Albion Estate’s Manager Yutishwar Manna and Agriculture Manager James Thomas arrived while Friday’s meeting was underway and informed that the workers will receive their retroactive, holiday pay and other outstanding payments soon.
Albion, like many other communities along the Corentyne corridor, is a prime People’s Progressive Party (PPP) support base.
Efforts to contact representatives of the Guyana Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) were unsuccessful.
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