Minister of Labour Manzoor Nadir is overseeing the setting up of an advisory commission on the reasons for the recent strike actions by workers at the Enmore and La Bonne Intention (LBI) sugar estates on February 12 and 13 and the one subsequent to February 28.
The minister said this intervention was triggered by his concern that the industry was facing too many strike actions, which it can ill afford.
As such, the minister yesterday called a meeting with the union representing the majority of sugar workers – the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) – and the Guyana Sugar Corporation (Guysuco) management.
After the meeting, Nadir told Stabroek News he decided on setting up the commission and he should complete drafting its terms of reference by tomorrow.
Nadir said too that he made a number of recommendations to both parties and he would mediate between them on the outstanding issue, which deals with a worker who lost his job as a result of strike action.
“From the meeting I got a sense of willingness from both parties to discuss issues that affect workers… In that spirit we need to look at the amount of strike actions in the sector and there is certainly a need for them to meet often,” the labour minister asserted.
He said there was also need for the parties to meet on principles rather than just to defend actions.
Nadir reiterated that the overall objective was to reduce the number of strike actions faced by the industry.
Last year alone Guysuco suffered 204 strike actions for different reasons, including pricing, acceptance of work, disciplinary and safety issues, wages/incentives, mode of transport and NIS/tax reduction.
Nadir said these issues will have to be looked at with a view to reducing strike actions.
And in the interim, GAWU has called off the strike action and so all the workers who were previously on strike have returned to work. The ten-day strike at the LBI estate which had spread to the Enmore estate may cost the company millions but at present it is unable to say exactly how much was lost.
The strike had caused a shutdown at the LBI and Enmore estates over what the workers called the “wrongful dismissal” of a colleague.
Shop steward Khemraj Singh was dismissed by Guysuco and the company’s contention was that Singh did not comply with the grievance procedure. The employee was dismissed on the basis that he “violated the grievance procedure and instigated, organized and mobilized a two-day strike action on February 12 and 13.” This initial action occurred after a factory employee, Rambarran, on February 8 had declined to undertake repairs on a hole on a boiler because the job required that he climb over 12 feet.
Rambarran reportedly refused and the factory manager referred him to a medex who concluded that the man was suffering from acrophobia, fear of heights. Because of this Rambarran was not given work for that day. His fellow workers felt that the man had declined the task for valid safety reasons and was therefore unjustifiably denied work.
The workers felt, too, that Rambarran should have been paid for that day and so shop steward Singh decided that he would take the matter up with management.
Guysuco’s management confirmed that it had decided not to pay Rambarran for that day when he was denied work and so Singh reported management’s decision to the workers. After the workers were informed, they decided that they would take strike action; Singh was dismissed as a result.
Meanwhile, GAWU has since received solidarity from its union colleagues in the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG).
In a statement issued on Saturday, FITUG condemned in the strongest terms what it called Guysuco’s apparent intention to either control the way representatives of the union carry out their duties as elected shop stewards or ultimately “bust the union.”
FITUG called on Guysuco to reinstate Singh immediately. FITUG said it is prepared, at very short notice, to take whatever action it feels is necessary.
