Berbice businesses laying off workers in preparation for estate closure

…New year to bring new economic crisis for Berbice – residents

By Lakhram Bhagirat

With more than 400 persons scheduled to be out of a job come January 1, the county of Berbice is now bracing itself for additional economic hardships

since there is a lack of opportunities for employment within the county.
Although the Government indicated that it was holding off on closure of the Rose Hall Estate, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) still went ahead and issued over 400 redundancy letters to workers, leaving them to ponder their next move.
In May 2017, the Government announced plans to close the Enmore and Rose Hall Sugar Estates, sell the Skeldon Sugar Factory, reduce the annual production

of sugar, and take on the responsibility of managing the drainage and irrigation services offered by GuySuCo. Several protest actions followed this announcement.
Over the weekend, Guyana Times visited the Rose Hall area and spoke to many of the workers and the business community about the impact of the callous move by the Corporation. The common concern was the lack of jobs within Berbice and also the age factor of those who lost their jobs.
“I cannot go to any other estate and get work, so me got to look fuh a job. With me age it is hard to get a job,” 45-year-old Rakesh Megnauth told this publication.
Megnauth told this newspaper that he had been employed with GuySuCo for more

than 13 years in the Pest Control Department and was in physical pain when he and his gang of over 200 persons received their redundancy letters.
“This place nah got wuk fuh we. Brother, you see when I get me letter, I want cry but me tek am and went to the meeting. Them man tell the whole of C-Gang that we will get the severance and some ah them man got wife and small children; so tell me what dem go do?” he questioned.
“What will we do?” was the common question from those who stand to lose their jobs. The business community is already bracing itself for the backlash of GuySuCo’s action.
One businesswoman said that it was really sad to see so many persons lose their jobs while noting that the community was already seeing a decline in spending. She explained that GuySuCo was the only entity that provided jobs for those in the Reliance/Abandon area in East Canje, and the closure of the Rose Hall factory would shift the residents further into poverty.
“It is really sad and it really affecting us, because business gone slow and this Christmas season ah come up and people are depressed now and what little money they got now, they got to provide food. New Amsterdam hardly got people

and work nah deh and it will get harder…it got people with loans and bills and children to go to school; how them go survive?,” the woman asked.
The businesswoman said she would feel sorry and helpless when she thinks about the plight of housewives who are now left to worry about their families.
Meanwhile, Seunarine Persaud related that he felt discriminated against because he was the oldest member of his team and was the first to get his redundancy letter. He explained that he has given 30 years of service to the Rose Hall factory, adding that there were approximately 40 persons in his team with only 11 receiving redundancy letters. “What about the people with children in high school…?” he lamented.
Persaud is adamant that the Estate has the capacity to continue operations, pointing out that there are canes that have been burnt and just left there to rot. Given the current economic woes being experienced, Persaud said “next year, it will get more heavy” and worsen.
He added that businesses in New Amsterdam, the economic hub of the county, were already laying off workers as opposed to hiring for the Christmas season. He

questioned whether there was any plan in place for them.
Many of the workers are also accusing the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) of doing very little to address their concerns, since the Union is yet to have a meeting with the laid-off workers.
The plight of the sugar workers took centre stage during the Budget 2018 debate in the National Assembly last week. The Opposition accused the Government of having no clear and direct plan for the workers.
“Not one of them, and certainly it is not in the Budget, has advanced an alternative economic activity for those thousands of sugar workers…; that would have been humane; that would have been visionary; that would have been responsible leadership and governance…..I guess if I am looking for those things, Mr Speaker, I am looking in the wrong place and the wrong direction,” Opposition MP, Dr Vindhya Persaud said during her presentation.
She also questioned plans for the women of the industry since they were the ones who would worry more about the loss of jobs.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, during his budget debate presentation, called on Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the unions to step in to help the workers to move forward. However, he failed to lay out the Government’s plan to assist the workers during the transition period.
When the coalition Government came into power in 2015, it ordered a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the state of the sugar industry. The CoI made several recommendations for the improvement of the industry.
What the CoI did not recommend was the closure of any of the estates. Since then the Government has been accused of disregarding the important advice of the $51.8 million CoI and going ahead with its own plans for the industry.