Majority of sugar workers’ severance still in limbo

…46% to receive full severance this month
…PPP willing to fund worker’s legal challenge

Hour after Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, put the Coalition Government on blast for their “illegal” actions”, relative to withholding full severance payments to sugar workers terminated by the state-owned Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), the Government moved to the National Assembly to ask for approval for $1.93B – initially $1.75B – to pay some, not all, sugar workers the full sums of monies owed.
Finance Minister Winston Jordan on Friday told the National Assembly that the dismissed sugar workers whose severance packages are $500,000 or less will be paid in full by January 31. The Minister made the statement as he sought a supplementary provision of $1.931 billion in an effort to provide 50 per cent of severance packages to the fired workers.

This decision to pay some of the workers full severance was made during a meeting on Friday between union leaders and a delegation of Ministers who met with President David Granger at the Ministry of the Presidency. Prior to Jordan’s announcement in Parliament, Minister of State Joseph Harmon earlier Friday disclosed that almost half of the redundant workers will get all their severance money.
Minister Harmon said the unions were forthright in their position during the meeting, something which Government appreciates.
Meanwhile, Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) President Komal Chand also stated that the meeting was held in a positive atmosphere with both sides engaging in meaningful discussions.
President Granger, who addressed members of the union, said this is the start of talks between the two sides so that an agreement can be reached at the earliest possible time. The Head of State noted that this is the time for all stakeholders to come together, putting aside all prejudices and partisan interests and work for the national good.
The Government on Friday also stated that the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) as well as the Port Mourant Training Centre will be utilised to train and upgrade the skills of the workers. Additionally, the service of the Micro Credit Unit at the Social Protection Ministry is available to lend assistance, as there is micro-financing available for start-up projects.

Robust debate
During the robust debate, GAWU President Komal Chand questioned whether Government was aware of the number of workers that had been made redundant from each estate, noting that there was a disparity between the numbers provided to the House and the numbers the Union received from the Ministry. He noted that according to a Ministry’s document 1789 persons were fired from Skeldon, 1356 from Rose Hall, 1705 from East Demerara and 375 from Wales.
In response, Agriculture Minister Noel Holder explained that 1851 were from the Skeldon Sugar Estate, 1181 were from the Rose Hall Estate, 1480 were from the East Demerara Sugar Estate and 251 from the Wales Sugar Estate. Holder, however, contended that the statistics provided by Chand were from a different period.
Chand also asked Holder to provide a number of managerial and security personnel that had been relieved of their jobs to which the House was informed that security staff had not yet been severed since protection is still needed at the various estates to prevent vandalism.
Former Trade Unionist and Opposition MP, Gillian Burton-Persaud questioned the House as to whether the sum being sought included overtime payments, which were still outstanding. She also probed Holder to determine whether he is aware of the provisions in the Termination and Severance Pay Act that speaks to fines and the computation of severance.
Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira questioned why provisions for severance were not made in the 2018 Budget presented in November of 2017, while her colleague Bishop Juan Edghill sought to have Holder disclose when the Government became aware of the number of workers made redundant.
Holder explained that Government became aware of the number on November 30, 2017, hence the reason for the provisions not being made in the Budget.
Minister Holder, in response to Opposition MP Neil Kumar, informed the House that of the total amount, $609 million will be paid to Skeldon workers, $705 million to Rose Hall workers, $815 million to East Demerara workers, and $150 million for Wales.

Legal challenge
In a gesture of magnanimity, PPP General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo announced on Friday that his party stands ready to fund any legal challenges which sugar workers may bring against the Government for their full severance.
This is besides the pro-bono legal service the party lawyers have already been providing to disaffected sugar workers. Jagdeo made it clear that separate severance payments are illegal and called for the Government to follow the law in its entirety. This is a reference to the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act, which stipulates that severance must be paid in a timely manner after termination of work.
Moving forward, the Opposition Leader said, “We will continue to battle for the sugar workers.” He added that since the Opposition’s call for no closure of sugar estates has been ignored, the political Opposition will be working to ensure that there are “decent private investments” moving forward – all in the interest of creating jobs for sugar workers. He stressed too that once the PPP/C resumes office any “underhand” dealings will not be legitimized, but dealt with accordingly.
The issue of 50 per cent severance came in a presidential address to the National Assembly read by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo at the January 10 sitting of the National Assembly.
The coalition Government closed all but the Albion, Blairmont and Uitvlugt estates.
A Special Purpose Unit set up by the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited has contracted PricewaterhouseCoopers to evaluate the assets of the closed estates at Skeldon, Rose Hall and Enmore before selling them. Thus far, a number of foreign and local companies, including the Demerara Distillers Limited, have expressed their interests in buying the Enmore and Skeldon Estates.
Since the closure of the estates, Government has been heavily criticised for not having a clear direction to steer the terminated workers.