– workers ‘catching their hand’ elsewhere – GAWU President

THE Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) is battling to successfully achieve its first crop target of 74,172 tonnes of sugar as the industry is faced with only a 59 percent turnout of cane harvesters.
Despite having ideal weather for harvesting, poor turnout of workers is diminishing GuySuCo’s chance of meeting its overall 2017 target of 198,000 tonnes.
The Corporation’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Audreyanna Thomas told the Guyana Chronicle recently that thus far only 21,484 tonnes of sugar has been produced but the pace of production could be augmented if they have a better turnout. This newspaper understands that some five of the six estates are functioning but the breakdown of workers showed that Albion Estate had a turnout of 68 percent, Rosehall 67 percent, East Demerara 58 percent, Blairmont 54 percent and Uitvlugt recorded the lowest of 48 percent.
Low turnout coupled with Skeldon not having a first crop, has left the Corporation with no choice but to call on cane harvesters to return to work so that the target can be achieved.
With the second crop target set at 124,286 tonnes, GuySuCo will be looking to mobilize workers in order to improve its pace of production and boosting its chances of having a successful year.
However, President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), Komal Chand believes that turnout will always be low because wages have been “frozen.”
“Workers are trying to catch their hand somewhere else so without increased wages, harvesters might never turn back to cane harvesting,” said Chand.
According to Chand, sugar workers have complained of not being able to “make ends meet.” It was noted that the wages they receive from cane harvesting is “not enough” to manage a household so harvesters have been resorting to new methods of earning revenue.
Although their plight is not to be overlooked, the sugar industry is faced with many challenges, one of those being the fact that the cost of production is US$36 cents per pound, while it is only sold at US$16 cents per pound.
Added to that, it was announced that the Corporation would need $18B in 2017 and a further $21B in 2018 but the Government and the management of GuySuCo have been exploring ways to innovate the industry so that it will remain a revenue earner in time to come.