Rose Hall dismissed sugar workers receive hampers from PPP

Close to 300 dismissed sugar workers, who were attached to the Rose Hall Sugar Estate, on Thursday received hampers from the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) as the party again highlighted the devastating effect the estates’ closures have on Region Six (East Berbice-Coretyne).
The Party made donations in East Canje, and at Islington to cater for the workers from the East Bank of Berbice.
In East Canje, close to 200 hampers were distributed while about 100 were distributed at Islington.
Party Regional Supervisor Zamal Hussain said the Party was in a small way trying to assist the workers who have been jobless after they were dismissed by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) after Government took a decision to close several sugar estates across the country.
“We will continue to assist the working-class people or the persons who were

severed from the estates until they are able to get a job. The People’s Progressive Party is committed to ensuring that the lives of these severed workers are better on a daily basis,” Hussain told this publication, while thanking those who donated towards making the hampers possible.
In December 2017, 181 workers from the Rose Hall Estate lost their jobs when the estate closed its doors. Most of those who were transferred to the Albion and Blairmont Estates were from the East Bank of Berbice.
Meanwhile, as the workers await the second half of their severance pay, many of the jobless workers are finding it difficult to secure employment.
This, several workers said, has forced them to utilise the first half of their severance to meet their expenses and obligations. Those monies have now been exhausted, and they are worried about how they will feed their families or send their children to school or keep the electricity on or pay their water bills. They say they are facing troubling times and their outstanding monies will greatly assist them.
“They are in a very bad situation; many of them don’t have a meal for the day and we as a party, we are doing everything possible so that we will be able to assist these workers. Some of the children are not going to school. At the regional level we have put things in place to ensure that they have transportation and the party is working very closely with the severed workers to ensure that they can take care of their families on a daily basis,” Hussain told Guyana Times on Thursday.
A single parent who was sent home when the Rose Hall Estate closed related some of the hardships she has been experiencing. The mother of one said it costs almost $1000 per day for her daughter to attend school. She explained that a large potation of that money goes towards printing of documents for school assignments.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the Party in collaboration with an overseas-based Guyanese, donated $1 million to 100 of the workers who lost their jobs in East Canje and also to 100 who lost their jobs when the Skeldon Estate closed its doors also in December last. 1851 workers were sacked from the Skeldon Sugar Estate when it closed. (Andrew Carmichael)