GAWU, GuySuCo differ over reported strike at Albion Estate

…Union says workers were “not required” to work; company insists industrial action was taken

The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) are at odds over reports of a strike by field workers at the Albion/Port Mourant Estate on Wednesday.
While GuySuCo maintains that cane harvesters attached to the estate initiated strike action to protest the dismissal of a field foreman, the union insists that there was no strike.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, GuySuCo said the employees expressed dissatisfaction with management’s decision to dismiss the foreman, who was found guilty of physically assaulting a fellow worker while on duty. The corporation said the decision was made in keeping with its disciplinary policy and reminded that the dismissed employee had the right to appeal the decision internally or pursue the matter through his union under the established grievance procedure.
GuySuCo further stated that the workers’ withdrawal from duties was viewed as strike action and appealed for them to “exercise good sense, resume duties, and allow the established systems to address the issue.”
However, GAWU’s Vice President Harvey Tambron told this publication that no strike occurred. He explained that workers from the 15B harvesting gang at the Albion Estate went home after there was no manager present to distribute work for them.
“The workers demanded that it be recorded as ‘not required’, meaning they were not required to work on Wednesday since no work was made available,” Tambron clarified. “This is not a strike situation. The workers simply left after management failed to assign duties.”
The GAWU official also questioned the timing and intent of GuySuCo’s statement, suggesting that the release was issued to divert attention from the estate’s current production challenges.
GuySuCo has set an overall national production target of approximately 101,000 metric tonnes for 2025, which was later revised downward following shortfalls during the first crop. The initial first-crop target of 40,000 tonnes was reportedly missed, leading to a new overall projection of around 60,906 metric tonnes for the year.
While GuySuCo has not publicly released a specific target for the Albion/Port Mourant Estate, the estate remains a key contributor to national output and has faced several operational setbacks in recent years.
Meanwhile, GAWU also claimed that management of the Albion Estate suspended one employee without consulting the union, a move it described as a violation of established industrial relations procedures. The union has since taken up the matter with the estate.
GAWU maintainesd that the corporation should engage in meaningful dialogue rather than issuing what it termed “misleading statements” about its workers.
GuySuCo, on the other hand, said it remains committed to open dialogue and fair process but reiterated that acts of physical violence in the workplace cannot be condoned under any circumstances.
While the situation has once again highlighted the uneasy relations between GuySuCo and GAWU, both sides have indicated a willingness to meet in the coming days to clarify the situation at Albion and to work toward resolving the dispute amicably.