Workers at GuySuCo’s Enmore sugar factory are expected to resume work today after they agreed yesterday to accept the one-off ‘premium payment’ offered by the corporation.
About 42 factory workers went on strike on Friday over ‘premium payment’ for work done and they had said that they will remain on strike indefinitely. The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) had expressed dismay at the “irresponsible” actions but offered to make a one-time premium payment although it said the workers were not entitled to it.
Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) General Secretary Seepaul Narine told Stabroek News yesterday that he met the workers and they have agreed to accept the premium payment and will return to work today. He said that another issue was the deduction of income tax from workers’ weekend pay which, under the agreement between the union and the corporation, is supposed to be tax-free. Narine said GuySuCo will refund the tax deducted and the workers will receive this refund and the premium payment tomorrow.
GAWU will also be meeting the corporation tomorrow to find a lasting solution to the issues.
The beleaguered corporation has faced a number of strikes in recent times. Friday’s strike erupted after the corporation said that the workers working the 6 am to 2 pm shift at the factory demanded “premium payment” which is one and a half times a normal day’s pay for work done last Saturday.
The corporation said, however, that they were not required to work for two days during that week because of the unavailability of canes to grind since the canes could not have been burnt due to the inclement weather. “The corporation’s business rule on the payment for premium pay for Saturday states that a daily paid time worker must complete 40 hours (of work) before he/she is entitled to this premium payment,” a GuySuCo statement said.
It added that a similar demand was made by Blairmont and Enmore factory workers several years ago and the matter was resolved at conciliation where the Chief Labour Officer concurred with GuySuCo’s position. “When the workers at Enmore [on Friday] decided to proceed on strike they were advised by management that on this instance only, they will be paid the premium payment as a medium to facilitate a meeting with GAWU early next week to bring a permanent settlement on this matter, despite the fact that it was resolved at conciliation a few years ago,” the statement said.
It added that the decision was also made because 4,750 tonnes of cane were waiting to be processed.
During the strike the workers also highlighted issues of safety and said that their rights are not being addressed by GuySuCo.
