-vow to continue struggle
Rejecting the 3% pay hike which they were recently awarded, sugar workers yesterday picketed the Ministry of Finance calling it an injustice and vowing to press on “with the struggle” for better wages into the new year.
President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) Komal Chand said 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.
According to Chand, no urgency was attached to the matter and workers are likely to pass the holiday season without the wage adjustment.
On the picket line, workers numbering around twenty-five vented their frustration with the industry and also spoke of the hardships they are facing.
The fear of spending Christmas with “very little”, according to one worker, is troubling. The workers also lashed out at GuySuCo saying the executives will pass the holidays without worrying about the issues affecting those in the field and their families.
The struggle which workers referred to yesterday was described by Chand as “a persistent battle” for better wages.
He said industrial action at this time would have no impact because the crop is nearing an end – grinding is set to end at Rose Hall this weekend and Skeldon by next week. Chand said the maintenance workers would have to decide whether they are part of the ongoing struggle when the crop ends. These are the workers who look after the fields in between crops.
Chand said too that workers in the industry are unsettled by news that GuySuCo might not pay out the Annual Production Incentive (API). “Even in the worst days of sugar production in the early 90s the API was awarded, if the news is true it would be dark days for the industry”, Chand stated.
GuySuCo will close the crop with a production tally of around 235,000 tonnes, according to Chand. He said the industry has fallen miserably behind its target for this year because of a number of issues, and he underscored the need for a motivated and committed workforce. The union is insisting that GuySuCo is seeking to cover up its failures this year by blaming the workers.
“I want to ask the CEO of the corporation what has happened to the production target set because this year has been sunny.
The crops all enjoyed good weather yet production is dismal, I am interested in hearing from him [CEO] about what happened this year”, Chand added.
Further, Chand noted that the union’s General Council will soon meet to discuss the way forward. He said the focus is on protecting sugar workers and on “continuing the struggle”.
The union also noted that sugar workers are unlike the public servants, who it has learnt will benefit from a 5% increase retroactive to January 1, 2009. “Certainly the public servants deserve greater than five …percent vis-à-vis the cost of living and the lowness of the wages and salaries of those at the bottom. Our solidarity is with them!”
