Dissmissed sugar workers need urgent action, not cheap talk

Dear Editor,
On June 24, 2018, sections of the media reported that a coordinating committee has been established regarding GuySuCo’s ‘Sustainable and Resilient Communities Programme’ and ‘Alternative Livelihoods Initiative’. For the GAWU, the establishment of a committee now six (6) months after the workers of Skeldon, Rose Hall and East Demerara were made jobless, and eighteen (18) months since a similar fate met the Wales workers, in our sincere view it says a mouthful.
The belated establishment of a ‘committee’ clearly demonstrates that there was — and from all appearances still is — no plan, or even a concerted effort, to address the well-being and welfare of the thousands of ordinary Guyanese who have been affected by the wrong decisions to close sugar estates. Certainly, GuySuCo and the authorities had, in our view, significant lead time to properly plan and devise workable solutions to mitigate the loss of the workers’ livelihoods. The fact that this is now being done nearly at the end of the second half of 2018 confirms the view that there was not even a glancing thought regarding how workers and their families would make out following the closing of the estates’ doors.
We cannot help but wonder whether the ‘high-powered’ committee is aware of the realities that the jobless sugar workers and their families now face. Do they know that some workers cannot provide sufficient healthy meals for their families? Do they know that some workers have had to remove their children from school? Do they know that some workers have found themselves in a depressed state? Do they know that families have broken up? It seems to us that the stage-show committee, sitting in air-conditioned board rooms far away from the suffering spawned by closure of estates, is unaware of the present-day realities in the communities linked to the now closed estates. The use of catchy names and having nice pictures of meetings mean very little to the workers and their families, who are caught literally between a rock and a hard place. If the committee is really serious, it needs to go to the communities to interact with the workers, find out what are their problems, and devise appropriate solutions to address the difficulties they face. The seeming satellite approach cannot — and in our sincere view will not — work.
The GAWU also saw that the Ministry of Natural Resources, according to information received on June 25, 2018, has sponsored a training programme which will train about 100 persons in several fields. Of the 100-person cohort, we recognise, some retrenched sugar workers will benefit. The GAWU welcomes this training programme, which will address a very small amount of the displaced workers.
At the same time, we cannot help but wonder whether any careful consideration has been given to trainees securing employment with their new-found skills, as it can very well negate the impact of the training.
We also wonder whether any assessment has been done regarding the availability of such skills in Region Six, and whether the trainees will join a saturated market. These, we believe, among other things, should be fully-well-thought-out before embarking on programmes of this nature.
At this time, while the grass is growing the horse is starving, and the jobless workers are finding coping harder day by day. The now dismissed sugar workers need urgent action, not cheap talk.

 Yours faithfully,
Seepaul Narine
General Secretary
GAWU