No decision was made to close full operations – fmr HR director

– decision in 2011 restricted to merger of LBI, Enmore factories
Former Human Resources director of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) Jiram Petam has said there

were never any discussions in 2011 to close the entire La Bonne Intention (LBI) Sugar Estate, contrary to claims by management of GuySuCo.
Pitam, director of Human Resource in 2011, tasked with the responsibility of dealing with all the HR and labour relations issues surrounding a successful merger of the LBI and Enmore factories, made this disclosure in a Letter to the Editor on Friday, after GuySuCo had claimed earlier that the decision to close the entire operations was made under the former People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration in 2011.
The Sugar Corporation’s Chief Executive Officer Errol Hanoman said last week that in 2011, when the LBI factory was closed, the operations there were to be integrated with those at Enmore.
However, he noted that the integration process had been stymied for a number of reasons over the years, and this led to there being two operational departments at the estates.
These included the field workshop, mill dock, field lab, stores, and administrative office.
“In 2011, the estates should have been properly integrated… so therefore, our move to close one of each of those listed things is just a continuation to the integration process which started in 2011,” Hanoman said.
But Petam dispute Hanoman’s claims and noted that all discussions and decisions at that time were related purely to the merger of the factories at LBI and Enmore
“Let me state before outlining the details that expose the reality of 2011 that it was never the intention of the company in 2011 to close any other operation beyond that of the LBI factory. It’s plainly misleading for the company to state that the ‘integration of the two estates was done in a haphazard manner, and as such was not properly implemented’, and that the integration process of the departments other than the factory started in 2011,” said Petam, who was well-respected by sugar workers during his tenure.
He added that neither of the workers unions Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) nor the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) was engaged in any discussion other than that pertaining to the merger of the two factories in 2011.
Petam explained that Paul Bhim, then CEO of GuySuCo (current Finance Director) on February 9, 2011, the “consolidation/merger” was discussed.
During that meeting, he said, Yusuf Abdul, General Manager Technical Services sought through a documented presentation the board’s approval for “the deployment of the LBI factory staff after the factory ceases grinding operations to locations described in the foregoing”.
The board then approved “the consolidation of LBI and Enmore Factories after the closure of the current crop at LBI. It is optional for employees to accept early retirement benefit. There shall be no imposition of severance or early retirement…” Petam said, reiterating that no decision was made to go beyond the factory.
Petam said Bhim told another board meeting on March 22, 2011 that a decision was made at the time not to dismantle the LBI Factory until Enmore was operating well, highlighting that the then CEO did not venture beyond the factory.

Union assurance
He said the assurance to the unions that only the factory will be affected by the merger was in accordance with the board’s decision and was given at the February 22, 2011 meeting with GAWU an NAACIE.
Petam said that if there was a need to merge all the other operating departments so that “the integration process” would not lead “to the detriment of the economics of EDE (East Demerara Estates)”, as claimed by the corporation, then Bhim, as CEO in 2011, and who is now a member of the Interim Management Committee, should have insisted that the board approved beyond the merger of the LBI Factory to include all the other operating departments. He did not.