LBI operations to shut down by July month-end – CEO
GuySuCo restructuring
The remaining operations at the La Bonne Intention (LBI) sugar estate, on the East Coast of Demerara, will grind to a halt by July month-end, possibly putting hundreds of employees on the breadline.
LBI to be fully closed by July month-end
Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Errol Hanoman told Guyana Times during an interview that the LBI Estate will be fully closed and the relevant operations merged with that at the Enmore Estate, also on the East Coast of Demerara.
The CEO reassured once again that vacancy slots at the Enmore Estate will be filled with persons who will be rendered unemployed when the LBI operations are shut down.
Hanoman posited that this move is part of GuySuCo’s plan to increase profits and become autonomous of the Government’s financial assistance, which normally amounts to billions of dollars per annum.
The two estates began its rationalising in 2011 with the intention of boosting competence and decreasing production expenses. However, this was left unfinished with mill dock, field labs and field workshops duplicated at the estates, and as such, the expenditures have increased significantly, thus the decision to integrate the two estates.
When the announcement to recommence this process was made earlier this year, the two trade unions representing workers – the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) – strongly objected to the decision.
GAWU President Komal Chand had stated that when GuySuCo closed the LBI Sugar Factory, it had assured that the other operations of the Estate would remain functioning.
According to reports, some 125 of the 846 workers attached to the LBI Estate are at risk of losing their jobs since the functions they currently carry out are expected to be merged with that of Enmore Estate.
GuySuCo had explained that the LBI section has 846 employees from which 125 are duplicating functions that are currently being undertaken at Enmore. These include personnel in the Mill Dock, Field Workshop, Field Laboratory, Field Office, and Stores.
The breakdown shows that 58 persons work in Mill Dock, 38 in Field Workshop and the remaining 29 are split in the Field Laboratory, Field Office, and Stores.
Approximately 721 are working at both the LBI and Enmore sections, primarily in harvesting and crop husbandry areas, therefore it is presumed that these jobs are secured.
GuySuCo explained that the number of employees who will be fired will be determined after filling existing vacancies at Enmore.
However, both Unions contended that full-time and regular employment will likely be unavailable.
Earlier this year, GuySuCo announced the closure of the Wales Estate by yearend and that some of the workers would be deployed to the Uitvlugt Sugar Estate while others would be redundant. GuySuCo and the Agriculture Ministry are yet to announce what measures will be put in place for the future of affected sugar workers. Notably, the closures of both estates follow assurances by Government that no estate will be shut down anytime soon.
In fact, following the announcement on the closure of the Wales Sugar Estate, Government promised that no other estate would be shut down. The closures also come on the heels of a multimillion-dollar Commission of Inquiry report which advised against the closure of any sugar estate or operation at this time.
