Govt in flagrant breach of labour laws – Union

50 per cent severance pay

…more protests likely

Acknowledging receipt of information that Government is getting ready to pay 50 per cent of the severance due retrenched sugar workers, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) has expressed disappointment with the Government’s continued refusal to pay redundant sugar workers their full severance due.
Speaking to this publication on Thursday, GAWU President, Komal Chand, took the Government to task for the continued deferment of full payment in this regard. He argued that the decision breaches the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act.
“They ought, in the first place, to have a month’s notice after the issue would have been discussed with (the workers’) union,” Chand said, reading from the legislation. “Having reached that point, they (have to) provide the employees with their notices. They ought to get, at the end of the notice, their severance pay. Those people that GuySuCo paid severance to so far, that has been complied with,” he explained.
“But this large number (4000), they have not complied with that stipulation. The notice expired on the 29 December, and they were expected to be paid by then. But the most fundamental point is that the payment ought to be done altogether. In fact, it is due since December,” Chand furthered.
Chand explained that the severance pay for each worker is approximately $1 million, with differences in the sum according to work description. He noted that with this full sum, workers caught unprepared by the closure of estates would have been cushioned and empowered to get back on their feet.
Chand said the payment of half the sum due the workers is unacceptable, and is an “eye-pass” to the workers. He also said that even the $100 million set aside for training workers is inadequate, as it works out to approximately $25,000 per worker.

“The law ought to be respected, and (no less a person than) the President ought to respect the law. He is the President, and this is a bad example (he is setting). You set a bad precedent for other Government agencies to do the same, and private employers could follow suit and delay workers’ entitlement, like severance pay, for longer periods. So we hope that more people will come out and speak. It’s an important principle, and it’s a legal entitlement,” Chand declared.
According to Chand, the GAWU does not buy Government’s argument that it cannot find the money to pay workers their full due. He posited that a bank loan could be obtained, and noted that once the Government guarantees a bank loan, then an entity (in this case GuySuCo) would have no difficulty in securing a bank loan.
Protests
Chand also noted the likelihood of further protests even after the announcement of half payments of severance. According to Chand, the workers on the ground are themselves pushing for more protests in order to get their due.
“I came from Berbice this morning. There was a large turnout of workers, and they were very much dismayed, having heard the President’s statement yesterday. And they asked us, ‘Let us go back and have more protests!
“And they (said they) would get their children and their spouses to come out. (They said) that they just can’t accept this. And so the mood is now developing for stronger protests over this issue.”
Government announced on Wednesday that it would pay 50 per cent of the severance benefits to dismissed sugar workers by the end of this month. This commitment represents more than $2 billion in severance payments.
This announcement was made in the National Assembly by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, who read a statement from President David Granger. The remainder of the severance would be paid in the second half of the year.
This move comes one day after disgruntled workers attached to the former Rose Hall Sugar Estate protested for their severance payment as they demanded that the Government get its act together.
Eight hundred and fifty workers, whose last day of employment was December 29, on Tuesday protested the non-payment of millions of dollars which are collectively owed to them by the David Granger Administration and the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).