The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), the main union for sugar workers, yesterday rejected an offer made by GuySuCo of a three percent wage increase for workers, as  negotiations resumed yesterday between the two entities.

Komal Chand

President of GAWU Komal Chand told this newspaper that since no agreement was sealed at yesterday’s meeting, the representatives from the two bodies will be meeting again tomorrow with the conciliator Chief Labour Officer, Yoganand Persaud.  He said that Persaud had asked for some time to study the positions of both entities. 

Last week Tuesday, GuySuCo pulled out of wage negotiations with GAWU after strike action by workers on the La Bonne Intention (LBI) estate. The Sugar Company stated that it would not negotiate under duress.

Following GuySuCo’s action, last Wednesday GAWU called its workers out on a national strike over what it deemed to be GuySuCo’s high-handed approach in the ongoing wage dispute.  The union called off the strike on Thursday. The workers on the LBI estate, however, continued their strike over the failure of GuySuCo to set a production target for the workers for last week and explained that this would have prevented them from achieving the weekly production incentive (WPI).

Meanwhile, Chand said yesterday that workers on the LBI Estate resumed work on Monday despite being set a production target which is considered to be a bit high.  Chand said that the workers had been set a target of 1114 tonnes of sugar for the week and explained that this was challenging. 

According to Chand, these workers only resumed work because they felt they could not prolong the strike.