Blairmont sugar workers on strike

Some of the striking workers

Workers at Blairmont Estate have been on strike since Monday, claiming unfair treatment and calling for an increase in pay, even as the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) says the impact of the action has been “devastating” during a critical second crop period.

“The strike continues to have a devastating effect on the corporation’s output and financial position when it is already in a critical state with limited finance to pay wages and salaries,” GuySuCo said in a statement yesterday.

The corporation further noted that due to the strike 329 punts of canes are in the mill dock waiting to be processed, while 347 punts of burnt canes are in the fields waiting to be loaded. “Some of those canes were burnt since Sunday, October 13, and are deteriorating in quality and the Corporation will be unable to recover the sucrose (sugar),” it added.