GuySuCo to meet with Uitvlugt residents on Wednesday
Community outreach
As part of its ongoing Community Outreach Programme for residents in sugar-dependent areas, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) will be meeting with the residents of Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara on Wednesday.
The first meeting in this regard was held on Thursday last at the Wales Community Centre, and sugar workers had stormed out following a dispute between the former manager of Wales Estate and the workers.
Flashback: Some of the workers before the walkout at last Thursday’s meeting with GuySuCo officials
Sugar workers say they are not going to attend the Uitvlugt outreach, although some of them work at the estate. They promised to continue calling for their severance pay, since, in their opinion, Uitvlugt Estate “is sheer blows.”
The aims of the outreach include creating awareness on the need for employees to show up to harvest cane, and mobilizing community leaders and other stakeholders — such as customers, suppliers, Government, private and civil society sectors — around the importance of improving attendance on all estates.
At last Thursday’s meeting, the workers were told they would be fired if they fail to turn up for work at the Uitvlugt Estate. But they stood their ground and informed the GuySuCo officials that they refuse to attend work at the estate.
Since closure of the Wales Estate in December 2016, some 1700 workers have been directly affected, and thousands of persons in Wales and contiguous communities have been indirectly affected.
GuySuCo is yet to pay some 375 workers their severance benefits, and the workers are planning to seek an audience with Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan, who visited the community in March, for an update on the position in regard to his promises. The workers also plan to meet with the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU) for an update on the court proceedings against GuySuCo.
Contacted in this regard, GAWU President Komal Chand has said there is not much of an update for the workers, since the case has not yet been called. He promised that the union would provide updates as the matter progresses, and noted that should the workers ask, they would be informed of the status.
“We are in the process of completing a petition and getting the workers to sign, so we can take it directly to the President so he can look into the matter,” Chand said.
