-talks ongoing on performance incentive
GuySuCo said sugar workers will be paid wage increases from January 1, 2010 and also announced yesterday that efforts are being made to honour retroactive payments as soon as possible.
The corporation, in a statement issued yesterday, said it encourages partnership instead of protest and promotes dialogue instead of traditional distrust “…all in the interest of our workers and the industry.” The statement was critical of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and came after calls by workers on Thursday for an ongoing struggle for better wages. The workers are rejecting the 3% pay hike they were recently awarded by an arbitration tribunal. GuySuCo said it is disturbed by what seems to be the tendency of GAWU of accusing the corporation of “deceiving and provoking workers when strike action is taken.”
According to the corporation, the union is blatantly attempting to spread misinformation to the workforce and the general public as it relates to the wage adjustment set out in the tribunal award, among other things.
The corporation said also that the union has been irresponsible with the sensitivities of its members “at such a critical turning point of the industry.” It noted workers will be paid the new rates from January 1, 2010 and that retroactive payments would be made “notwithstanding the ruling of the Tribunal which indicated end of March as the latest date for payment.”
The statement also addressed the Annual Production Incentive (API) and according to GuySuCo discussions have commenced with the union on this. The corporation said it gave no indication the API would not be paid. “The corporation is once again calling on GAWU in the best interest of the future of the company and more particularly our workers, to adopt a more responsible approach to the issues affecting the industry,” the statement added.
According to GuySuCo, the union has criticised the tribunal award but has not disputed the findings of the report “which highlights the difficult financial circumstances, the new Board and management at GuySuCo are working diligently to overcome.” The corporation said too that tribunal, which included a representative of the union, had pointed to the viability of the industry being dependent on the welfare of the employees.
Further, GuySuCo issued a call for stakeholders in the industry to refrain from politicizing the problems it is facing. The corporation reiterated a point raised by the arbitration tribunal which is that the industry can still be steered to a path of recovery, but that this depends on the effective implementation of the turnaround plan.
On Thursday, workers had protested the wage hike and also criticised GuySuCo for being indifferent to their concerns. President of GAWU, Komal Chand had said that the union is particularly disappointed with the award by the Gobind Ganga arbitration tribunal, and he referred to the payout deadline of March 2010 as unreasonable given the festive season.
