109 ex-Wales sugar workers still to receive severance pay

Some 109 former sugar workers of the Wales Estate will have to wait a little longer to receive their severance pay due to issues relating to the calculation of interest. This was relayed to Guyana Times on Saturday. It was also disclosed that a total of 238 workers received their termination benefits between Friday and Saturday.
According to information obtained, the reported 109 unpaid workers were those who had taken up employment at the Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara Estate.
Many others had refused to do so after contending that it was unlawful for their employer, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) to compel them to travel 22 miles from their point of origin at Wales.
The court agreed with this position and as such the workers were awarded interest at four per cent per annum. This determination was made by Justice Sandil Kissoon in his ruling last week.
Guyana Times was told that GuySuCo was waiting on the court order to guide the calculation for the workers.
Thousands of dismissed sugar workers are finding great difficulty in securing alternative jobs following their retrenchment in late 2016. In early November, the National Assembly gave approval for almost $2.5 billion to cater for the remaining severance to 4723 sugar workers and Justice Fidela Corbin-Lincoln had also ruled in favour of the ex-employees, saying that they should be paid with interest in the range of four to six per cent.
It took the court over a year to initially hear the Wales severance matter and the workers, their families, union and other supporters have been protesting for their legally entitled benefits.
In fact, when Justice Kissoon ruled last Wednesday, just hours before, there was another protest organised outside Parliament Building where workers called for their severance.
The workers who had opted to work at Uitvlugt will also receive one month’s pay with lieu of notice, coupled with their severance. It was initially 371 workers that were auguring for severance, but this was reduced after it was found that some former Wales employees had to come off the list as some were not entitled; some were deceased, and others could no longer be found in the country.
Aside from Wales Estate closing in December 2017, the closures of Skeldon, Rose Hall and Enmore were all finalised as part of Government’s cost cutting measures.
The latter three were later reopened under small operations as part of the Administration’s move to garner private investors.