Some 86 persons hired at Wales job fair – suggests PSC Chairman

– berates non-attending critics
– Enmore event slated for month-end

Following inaccurate reports that hundreds of persons in the sugar belt were hired at a job fair recently held in the Wales area, Chairman of the Private Sector Commission, Eddie Boyer, has indicated that approximately 86 individuals were hired by employers.
He made this disclosure in an interview with Guyana Times on Sunday, when he reiterated his hope that more persons could be hired.
“The response we got for the first fair was overwhelming. The average companies

may be hiring about 6 persons and there were 21 companies; but whether the people stayed, I can’t give a final [number],” he stressed.
The private sector-organised event was held on January 31 in light of the noted challenges faced by hundreds of dismissed sugar workers, their family members, and other persons in the surrounding communities, who have been affected by the closure of the Wales Sugar Estate. The West Demerara entity was shuttered on December 31, 2016, displacing more than 1000 workers, over 300 of whom are yet to receive severance pay.
Boyer contends that job fairs and similar recruitment exercises should be held to ensure that more persons are employed.
Many persons, including former Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) employees, however contended that the job fair was not appealing to sugar workers, and some even remarked that the fair was a show. Some sugar workers remarked that some companies requested persons with three CXC subjects and they have none.When questioned about some of the criticisms, the PSC Chairman told this newspaper that he need not offer a response to such remarks, as many of the persons, in his view, did not realise the rationale behind the private sector-led

event.
“I can’t respond to sentiments of individuals who were not there, didn’t understand the objective, and did not see the response to the fair and that we tried to make the people marketable,” Boyer retorted.
Boyer last month disputed reports carried in the State media that some 800-plus persons were instantaneously hired at a job fair it held for ex-Wales workers at Patentia, West Bank Demerara (WBD). He clarified then that it was over 800 jobs which were available, and not that hundreds of persons were provided with employment.
Enmore leg of fair
Meanwhile, <<Guyana Times>> understands that another job fair is planned for March month-end at Enmore. This follows reports that the PSC was making arrangements to coalesce with additional companies to host a similar exercise in the environs of the East Demerara (Enmore) Estate, where many sugar workers have lost their jobs.
Despite its plans, the Private Sector has been accused of displaying an inability to pressure Government against dismissing thousands of sugar workers. In fact, Advisor to the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Peter Ramsaroop, said there was contempt for the working class when the PSC hosted the job fair. He has called the exercise “nothing but a public relations stunt”.
According to Ramsaroop business leaders, instead of presenting workable and viable options, plans and information to the sugar workers and others who were seeking employment, “chose instead to pontificate on the disillusioned people learning to accept change, and pointing to cultural shifts in an attempt to placate those devastated by the ad-hoc decision-making of the Government of the day – decisions they in the Private Sector stood by and watch the unfolding of these callous actions”.
When Boyer spoke to this newspaper in January, he said he supported calls for the establishment of a new industrial zone at Wales, but cautioned that training was needed to provide former sugar workers with skills to get gainful employment in other fields.
Late last month, the Finance Ministry’s Special Purposes Unit (SPU) announced that 100 cane harvesters would be re-hired to cut cane at Rose Hall. Wales workers expressed hope that their estate could have a similar re-opening, but this is unlikely based on reports that much of the equipment has been sent to other estates. SPU has recently invited tenders for the entity’s scrap metal and several lots near the estate. (Shemuel Fanfair)