The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) has answered calls made by the Guyana Agriculture and General Workers Union (GAWU) and has agreed to have engagements aimed at discussing new measures recently forced upon the Skeldon sugar workers.
GAWU President Komal Chand
GAWU President Komal Chand said that GuySuCo informed the Union that it would meet to discuss the issues which led to three days of picketing by the workers.
“The workers have resumed work. As such, the situation will be regarded as normal for the parties to reach. GuySuCo said that the discussions will be about the changes that they want to implement; they have made some changes as was previously reported that caused the workers to strike, so they will discuss why they want those changes,” Chand told Guyana Times.
In addition, the Union raised other concerns that have been brought to light regarding the reduction of other duties previously carried out by the workers.
According to the GAWU President, “We have raised with them a number of matters about reducing the field work, like planting and ploughing of the land, tillage, etc, that we hope to discuss as well, because for the past weeks since the crop began, those activities have been curtailed”.
It is being reported by the sugar workers that GuySuCo has decided not to undertake any land tilling and cane planting for the remainder of the year at that estate.
The application of herbicides and fertilisers to canes has also been discontinued by the Corporation. Skeldon’s tillage tractors were also transferred to other estates along with stocks of fertilisers. In the case of the cane planters and the spray hands, they have been compelled to undertake cane cutting and rat catching tasks respectively.
GAWU is questioning these actions by GuySuCo, since “Skeldon is expected to remain in sugar production and thus the strong need for maintenance of the cultivation. With the intended divestment of Skeldon still not popularly supported in Guyana or at least still some way off, it follows that the estate would operate under GuySuCo’s banner for some time more and, therefore, we are even more confounded by the sugar company’s unwise decisions”.
According to GAWU, the decision to end these important field operations is another sordid attempt to paint Skeldon as a poor performer and to strengthen the call for its divestment.
The Skeldon sugar workers downed tools for three consecutive days protesting against a sudden and unannounced withdrawal of a long-standing practice whereby they would receive extra payments proportionate to the tasks they complete.
This has been the system for many years, and as such, the workers had opted to down tools to defend their rights.
“If it were the case that the Corporation had wished to change the practice at Skeldon, certainly it could have engaged the Union and the workers in discussions to reach an amicable solution in the nine months the estate was not operating,” GAWU had said.
According to the Union, the Corporation has chosen to employ a “wrecking ball” attitude in addressing issues related to the sugar workers and, as such, made calls for engagement which went unanswered for days.
