Billions injected, but tangible results yet to be seen at GuySuCo – Dr Nanda Gopaul

…higher wages needed for successful turnaround

Although billions of dollars have been injected into the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) by the Government of Guyana, former Labour Minister, Dr Nanda Gopaul stated that tangible results are yet to be seen from such investments.
The longstanding trade unionist was speaking at the 54th Delegates Conference of the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial, and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) on Friday.
He recalled the shutting down of Wales, Enmore, Rose Hall, and Skeldon Estates by the former Government, where thousands of workers lost their jobs and nearly 400 workers in the NAACIE categories were affected.
In lauding the PPP/C Government for making strides to address and reopen the estates, he added that some issues are still to be addressed.
“Fortunately, the situation was promptly addressed to re-open closed estates except Wales by the PPP/Civic Administration. While billions of dollars have been injected into GuySuCo, we are still to see tangible results. Our sister union GAWU has issued several statements of concerns over the management style in the industry.”
The Government had appointed a new Board to oversee its operations and Dr Gopaul added that GAWU must be commended for its vigilant and patriotic stance with regard to decisions made by management that are seen to be inimical to the interest of the industry, the country, and its workers. In this breath, he also called for better wages to see a turnaround in the industry.
“The unions in the industry will have to remain vigilant to ensure that monies pumped into the industry are bringing the desired results which will ultimately see the turnaround of the fortunes of the industry. However, when one examines the level of wages currently paid in the industry and the number of years the workers went without any wage increase, one will find that the wages paid cannot attract the level of turnout of workers to change the fortunes of the industry around.”
Faced with a similar situation of workers’ turn out to work in 1990, when Booker Tate was invited by the then Government to manage the industry, their first task was to address wages. They implemented a wage policy that saw workers benefit from the following increases: 50 per cent in 1990; 75 per cent in 1991; 22 per cent in 1992 and 21 per cent from March 1993.
While analysing these numbers, the veteran trade unionist commented, “These increases saw the systematic improvement of labour turnout and improvement in the performance of the industry. The wage increases continued despite the fact that it was expected that there will be a cut in the selling price 1994 for sugar exported on the international market. I make this point to draw attention to the fact that the parsimonious increases which have been paid out to sugar workers will not give them the incentive to turn out fully and meaningfully to work. Higher wages should be seen as the first platform in the turnaround plan.”
He added that Government should not be influenced by critics who argued that they are pumping money into a ‘dark hole’.
“Those who are saying so now did not comment when from 1974 when the Government confiscated billions of dollars in the form of a sugar levy and wasted it in other sectors of the economy. In fact, from 1990 to 1994 alone the Government collected nearly 15 billion dollars in levies. Those were very huge sums of money then. It needs to be highlighted also that the industry has been around for nearly 400 years and has given sustenance to the country and its people. We should not de-emphasise sugar because of our newly found oil wealth,” the former Minister voiced.