Dear Editor,
The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) has noted the contents of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) column titled “PPP and GAWU’s scare tactics must be challenged”, which appeared in sections of the media on April 30.
At the outset, we were most disturbed by the innuendos which were lobbed at the GAWU seemingly in an attempt, which would be futile, to disparage and bring disrepute to our Union. This is a well-worn out tactic. We wish to advise the APNU and moreover all Guyanese that the GAWU as a trade union has always maintained its independence and possesses our own organisational structure. Our Union recognises that our diverse membership is supportive of the various political organisations in Guyana and has respected our members’ rights and choices.
The column points to the increase of the industry’s employment costs in the early 1990s, but fails for some reason to recall that massive devaluation of the Guyana dollar resulted in a substantial increase in the cost of living. Is it that the APNU is saying that the sugar workers’ wages should have not been adjusted to offset the decline in their purchasing power? Moreover, we cannot fail to recognise that the industry’s operations are largely labour intensive and, therefore, the employment costs relative to overall costs being what they are should not be surprising.
The APNU author then goes on to say that “…since 2001, the sugar industry wage bill has accounted for 63 per cent of total costs”. We find the statement surprising since GuySuCo in its recent interaction with the Parliamentary Economic Services Committee disclosed that employment cost was 56 per cent of overall costs in 2015 of which six per cent accounted for the Senior Staffers. The column also said, unambiguously, that the State provided some 0 billion to the industry over the last 10 years. But, various press reports have advised that the Government provided about billion to the industry. The two figures are vastly apart and the inflation of the sum by the author is perplexing. The sum quoted by the APNU column, we feel constrained to point out, has it been real, would be more than sufficient to allow the industry to diversify its product base and to ensure its sustainability and viability.
Interestingly too, we noted that the APNU pointed out that the industry can become successful producing “sugar, bagasse, ethanol and reuseable energy”. We agree with those familiar suggestions and wonder why steps are not being taken in this direction. The GAWU urges that our presentation to the Government of February 17, 2017 be examined in a critical and unbiased manner.
While the APNU talks about workers being leased lands, we see that as continuing talk and the basics are not in place to encourage workers to take up farming. At Wales, we see no concerted efforts in this direction except for a meeting with a few workers offering them lands at the extreme end of the cultivation. The cost of land development is prohibitive and the costs of transportation would be high. Given the depression that has gripped the communities of Wales since closure, farming may not hold out such a grand promise. Can one blame the workers for any show of reluctance?
The GAWU maintains that a diversified sugar industry harnessing the full potential of the cane plant and moving to a more wide-ranging product base offers the industry the best opportunities for its turnaround.
It is disappointing that the APNU has launched such a disturbing attack on our Union on the eve of Labour Day when workers are celebrating their gains and reflecting on their challenges. More fittingly, we believe, it would have been a good opportunity to express best wishes to the working-people of Guyana, but maybe the spurious attack on our Union is reflective of the respect the APNU has for the Guyanese working-class and/or probably an attempt to really cover for a dismal performance seen in the sugar industry and in other areas too.
Yours faithfully,
Seepaul Narine
GAWU General Secretary
