— call for better pay; GuySuCo says action detrimental to industry
SUGAR workers across Guyana on Monday downed tools in demand of higher salaries and better working conditions.In order for these demands to be achieved, the sugar workers said the state-owned Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc (GuySuCo) must first engage the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) in good faith-bargaining.
And according to the union, during a meeting last Thursday, the Cooperation offered no commitment when the issue of a pay increase was raised.
“When asked pointedly whether provisions had been made for improvements in pay, GuySuCo’s representative said none had been made but adjustments could be made to facilitate an increase,” GAWU said in a statement issued on Monday.
Picketing exercises were staged outside the administrative offices of the various estates. With placards bearing slogans such as “Why are sugar workers discriminated against?”, “Treat sugar workers fairly – we are also Government Employees”, “Workers co-operating and producing, time for serious talks with GAWU”, “GuySuCo stop pussyfooting, engage in good-faith bargaining” and “Sugar workers deserve pay rise”, the workers demanded that GuySuCo adhere to their cries.
The union and the sugar workers are worried that GuySuCo will not approve an increase for 2016.
“The workers have rightly pointed out that unlike other state workers, who have benefitted and will benefit from pay rises in 2015 and 2016, though those increases fell below their expectations, the sugar workers have been excluded and are seemingly being deemed as ‘second class citizens’,” GAWU said.
The union said it must be noted that sugar workers’ standard of living have dropped in face of the rising cost of living, and as such an increase is necessary at this time.
PUT EMPHASIS ON WORKERS
GAWU said while steps are being taken to improve the physical capital, the Sugar Corporation must place even greater emphasis on its workers.
“At this time too, workers noted that employment costs in the industry are expected to be slashed by as much as $2.5B, a staggering 13 per cent, this year (2016) while, at the same time, the top-most echelon of the Corporation’s hierarchy are benefitting to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars annually,” GAWU stated.
It noted too that these “development” which are at a disadvantage to the workers, are happening at a time of improving sugar prices, better productivity and some progress in the industry’s financial standing.
During Monday’s protest, the sugar workers backed by their union also re-emphasised their strong disagreement over the decision to close Wales Estate.
The closure decision, they say is a step in the wrong direction and will condemn the thousands of workers, their spouses, children and other near ones – who are dependent on that estate’s operations to unimaginable hardships and misery.
“Workers also raised their voices against the rollback of time-honoured and long-standing practices such as GuySuCo’s denial of paid-release for workers to attend the union’s Congress and union meetings; the denying of workers to attend union-sponsored courses during the cropping periods; the denial of transportation assistance for workers to attend union activities; the withdrawal of pro-rated Weekly Production Incentive (WPI) awards; the denial of Collective Bargaining in 2015; a pitiful 2015 API award, among other things,” the union pointed out.
GAWU is also urging the Corporation to engage in good-faith negotiations with the view to find a reasonable settlement to the workers’ pay rise question this year.
“Continuing dialogue will be necessary to address the other concerns of the workers,” the union stated, noting that the current approach is not helpful to the process and can very well lead to greater disharmony and discontent among the workers.
NEGATIVE IMPACT
But GuySuCo in a statement said for many years, one of the areas that have been impacting negatively on the business of sugar is strike action.
“During the last 10 years, strike action ranged between 160 in 2005 to 250 in 2010, and fluctuated slightly during that period. For six years, the numbers were above 200 annually, and in 2014 and 2015 there was a slight reduction,” the Corporation said.
It added that from 2005 to 2015, the total man-days lost to strikes were 813,437, and the highest man-days lost for this period was in 2009 with 130, 171 in 2006 and the lowest being 32,064 in 2014.
For four years, the number was above 90,000; this was in 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010 and for another four years, it was above 50,000 while it was below 50,000 for three years during this period.
“Being a labour-intensive Corporation, over 150 strikes per year have been contributing to the demise of the Corporation and have been impacting significantly on its financial viability. It is important to note that in order for the Corporation to grow and become a profitable entity, it has to diversify. GuySuCo is calling on the unions to just this once, put the employees’ interest above their own agenda,” GuySuCo said.
The Corporation noted that it has a responsibility to protect the rights and secure their livelihood for the workers, both members and non-members of unions.
