Police intervene to get Albion sugar workers’ protest under control

…amicable solution being sought to Albion strike – GuySuCo

Hundreds of sugar workers attached to Guyana Sugar Corporation’s (GuySuCo’s) Albion Estate in Berbice, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), on Saturday continued their protest of poor working conditions but this time they blocked a major roadway.

Police in Region Six, however, managed to engage the workers and persuaded them to clear the roadway, thus allowing a smooth flow of traffic. Additionally, the Police arranged a meeting between the disgruntled sugar workers and the manager of the estate.
The workers took strike action, shutting down the sugar factory as they called for an inclusive approach to several of the issues affecting them.
Their main concern is that the poor quality of cane in the field cannot give them the weight needed to earn decent day’s pay.
As it is, the workers said they are only earning one-third of what they should earn as cane harvesters.
Workers’ union representative, Arjunan Persaud said they were forced to take to the streets because management has been reluctant to meet with them to address their concerns.
“The reason they are out here is because they are working six and seven days and could barely get $12,000 a week. That money is not enough to take home to maintain a family.”

He explained that an arrangement has been put in place for them to do additional work in the fields if they want to make decent day’s pay.
Workers, however, said that they are required to clean drains in the canfields and also the beds from which cane has been harvested.
Persaud said on Saturday that it is difficult to ask the harvesters to do that after starting work before 05:00h.
“When they finish working then at 1 o’clock and 2 o’clock in the hot sun you want them to do that. Some of them can’t. We have to lift some of them out of the canfield when they fall down.”
Commenting on this, some of the harvesters told this publication that they would normally work in their kitchen gardens at home when the sun is cool but if they have to work extra hours in the hot sun, they cannot do the home chores they are accustomed to doing.
“When you go home, all you can do is go and sleep,” one of the harvesters told this publication.
According to Nicholas Paul, the cane they are harvesting is way below the approved weight.
“If you cut a bundle of cane and you throw it inside of the water it would float. You could hold the cane and break it easy because of how it dry. If you walk on it, it breaking because of how it dry,” the young cane harvester said.
Paul said that over the past five days, workers have been seeking to meet with management but to no avail.
Meanwhile, another harvester, Vickram Mangal, told this publication it was the worst quality of cane he has experienced since harvesting cane from 1989.
“We understand that the whole place was flood – that is God work, but we are now working at the sugar industry for ‘thanks’; nothing else than thanks.”
Mangal showed this publication two of his payslips. One indicated that he was paid $1123 for one day and another showed he was paid $4000 after completing a five-day workweek.
The workers are also saying that other groups which fall under the agriculture sector are being treated better than them.
They claimed that rice farmers are being given flood relief so too are poultry, livestock and cash crop farmers. However, there is nothing for the workers in the sugar industry, they argued.

Police intervention
Deputy Commander, Superintendent Himhauth Sawh engaged the workers and urged them to clear the roadway. He noted that the protest was an illegal activity but the Police had no intention of prosecuting persons. In fact, he urged them to remove the burning tires and large pieces of wood they had used to block the roadway to vehicular traffic.
The Deputy Commander also told the protesting workers that he was personally going to meet with the Estate Manager and seek to get him to meet with them.
The Estate Manager, Threbhowan Shivpersaud, then met with them and the meeting took place at the Albion Sports Complex.
He told the workers that the current state of the canes in the field was as a result of the 65 days of the flood.
He said the management from the Albion Estate met with executives from GuySuCo and another meeting was planned for Tuesday.
“I just got a call from one of the executives and he said they will meet with us and the representatives tomorrow [today].”
Workers asked for some of the harvesters to also be included in that meeting, however, the Estate Manager said he could not promise since it was not his meeting.

Amicable solution
Meanwhile, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), which is currently dealing with the fallout of a strike at its Albion Sugar Estate, said that every effort is being made to find an amicable solution to the impasse while at the same time putting the estate’s financial predicament into perspective.

In a statement on Saturday, GuySuCo explained that four out of five cane harvesting gangs are on strike, amounting to 1146 employees. It noted that the workers are demanding that the estate compensate them for the dry cane that deteriorated due to floods earlier this year, without having to do alternative work.
GuySuCo also explained that Corporation executives met with the Guyana Agriculture and General Workers Union (GAWU) on Tuesday last and listened to their concerns, which are being relayed to higher management. In fact, another meeting is planned for September 21, where GAWU will be updated on the discussions with upper management.
At the same time, however, GuySuCo noted that the Albion Estate has been facing a number of challenges that have led to its weekly sugar production being reduced from 2100 metric tonnes of sugar to 1815 metric tonnes. This is as a result of 65 days of flooding that affected cultivation and the subsequent loss of weight that led to the workers being unable to reach their minimum 6.5 tonnes daily punt weight.
“The 2021 flood have created new challenges at Albion/Port Mourant Estate. Among those challenges is the claim being made by the cane harvesters for compensation for not achieving their minimum daily punt weight of 6.5 tonnes due to dry canes. The estate is actively working to address this challenge using the established system for such situation.”
“The estate’s weekly sugar production target has been reduced as a first step to recognise the loss in weight. In addition, this reduced target is a means to also to encourage employees to work to earn additional earning through daily performance incentive and weekly production incentives,” GuySuCo also said in its statement.
According to GuySuCo, the cane harvesters in one of the gangs that went on strike had stated that premium price was paid in the past for obstacles in the field. The Corporation noted that this was pay based on the additional time spent on the job to complete the work shared.
“Indeed, under normal circumstances Albion/Port Mourant Estate’s second crop is usually twenty (20) and more weeks, however, as a result of the prolonged flood the estate lost 31 per cent of its crop canes causing our second crop 2021 to be curtailed to 12 weeks,” GuySuCo said.
“Further, the Chief Executive and his management team will be meeting the Union Central Executives and the cane harvesting shop steward (today) to further discuss this matter to reach a mutually agreeable solution,” GuySuCo added.

Concession
Meanwhile, a senior official in GuySuCo informed this publication that the system currently in place when dry cane is cut involves suitable alternative work being offered to the cane harvesters to make up for their loss in earnings.
He noted that there is a possibility that the company could offer a one-off compensation to the workers, in addition to the alternative work. The alternative work option, he noted, should be non-negotiable since the one-off compensation would already be a concession. Additionally, he pointed out that GuySuCo is already losing money on the crop due to the floods.
“While one will argue that the harvester is giving his labour and losing out on earning by no fault of his own, one must also appreciate that the company is also losing on sugar and given our financial position, consideration must be given as relates to the value of compensation which can be offered.”
Scores of cane harvesters attached to the Albion Sugar Estate downed tools on Friday morning to stage a protest over what they claimed is poor working conditions in the fields. Moreover, the workers have raised concerns over the recorded weight of the cane on the scales, contending that the figures are considerably lower than what they thought was harvested.
The workers staged their protest at Adelphi, East Canje. These workers are from the Rose Hall Sugar Estate but were not sent home when that estate was closed and as such, they were transferred to the Albion Estate. (Jarryl Bryan and Andrew Carmichael)