ON January 10, President David Granger reaffirmed the commitment of the coalition government to the welfare of sugar workers and to the restructuring of the ailing industry. He announced that redundant workers would get severance pay, beginning month-end; and the job of 11,000 workers would be protected at three expanded estates around Albion, Blairmont and Uitvlugt.

According to the President, the APNU+AFC government agreed to pay more than $4 billion ($4,000,000,000), half of which would be disbursed soon and the remainder in the second half of this year. The payment would be made to some 4,691 workers, of which number 3,773 have been served redundancy notices by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).

POSITIVE OUTCOMES
The government, opposition and unions have absolutely nothing to gain from a single sugar worker being laid off and their families exposed to hardships. For me, it had become an extremely emotional issue every time sugar would come up for discussion and I continue to work with my colleagues towards and be hopeful for positive outcomes, such as the payment of severance. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the unions and their political handlers, who are determined to exploit the plight of sugar workers.

They had demanded no closure of any of the estates, even though that process had started under the last government. They knew that all the earnings plus and additional forty-eight billion ($48,000,000,000) had been wasted on an industry that was bankrupt and needed overhaul. They also knew that at the rate of decline (producing sugar at an average 40 United States cents per pound and selling at only 16 cents per pound), would lead to total collapse of the entire industry and all 17,000 workers would be out of jobs.

RECKLESS POLITICS
But their reckless politics could only be compared with the cloud of danger, disaster and doom that they dragged over the future oil-and-gas industry. They painted as an ominous orgy of what I see as oil-o-mania, that elicited incredulous responses at every new billion-barrel find, of wonderment, weeping and warped wisdom. Preferably, they would rather that Guyana leave the oil in the womb of our sea! The cynical choir clamoured: “Leave it right deh!”

Overnight, a sleuth of conspiracy chasers concocted a theory that government wanted to hide the oil agreement and steal the signature bonus. It was a bewildering conspiracy to “:tief” by leaving fingerprints everywhere starting with five signatures on the oil agreement, which was gazetted, then sealed and filed at the Deeds Registry as a public document. The $18 million bonus was placed in a special, interest-bearing, secure account at the Bank of Guyana, not in someone’s pocket or in any overseas accounts. But I can say no more, since where the bonus was put or should be put, is now the subject of litigation.

SINISTER SUSPICION
Last year, a similar response and sinister suspicion had greeted the announcement of severance pay for Wales workers. On that occasion, GAWU filed court proceedings to block payment, after demanding and organising protests for same. The workers rebelled against their own union and demanded that the injunction be discharged to allow payment to be made. When that was done, just under 100 workers received an estimated $80 million.

Sensible onlookers were baffled that a union could actually frustrate payment of severance to affected workers, but it is opposition politricks to feed on the hardships of workers, and to channel their disaffection into political anger and rage against a young, incoming government that is doing all it possibly could to cushion the impact of the crisis that it had inherited.

So, no one should be surprised at the somersault of the major union at the announcement by the President of the severance package. The union/party leaders were caught off-guard by the announcement, so they changed their chant from “pay severance” to “pay severance right NOW”.

TRIM ALLOCATIONS
They were convinced that GuySuCo has no money to pay, much less to pay now. They knew that the government would be under pressure to trim allocations for various ministries to find the additional $2 billion to meet immediate payment in the face of a current budget deficit.

From a legal standpoint, the opposition has no legs on which it could stand. Neither the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act (TESPA), nor the collective labour agreement stipulates a date by which such payments ought to be made, though the practice has been for payment to be made soonest after notice of redundancy is served.

Since the coalition took office, the fate of the sugar industry has been on the front burner. It was recognised that the sugar industry has been historically a political battleground and an arena for ethnic mobilisation. The government had therefore anticipated the high expectations that severance should be paid, and has been considering various options. As an interim measure, our coalition government budgeted an additional sum of six billion, three hundred million ($6,300,000,000) for GuySuCo, of which five hundred million ($500,000,000) was for an advance on the severance bill.

From day one, we tried to grapple with the sad situation in which we met the sugar industry. Within four months of taking office, the coalition established a Commission of Inquiry; then tabled in the National Assembly a State Paper outlining the broad policy for restructuring of the industry. It has since set up a Special Purpose Unit to manage the reform. I believe that investors will soon come on board at Skeldon, Rose Hall, Enmore and Wales and that new opportunities will be opened for sugar workers and their children.

SMALL BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
Our government is investing in this direction. Apart from the severance pay, $100 million was set aside for small loans. Workers leaving the industry could access this loan for small businesses. Already, some 500 former sugar workers have been engaged for possible retraining in fields such as carpentry, masonry, plumbing, and small business enterprises. They will prove that they are not incapable of doing other jobs, and are not “ballerinas” fit only for the Bolshoi Theatre, as the PPP mouthpiece imputed.

New opportunities are being created within and outside the sugar belt. Business Minister Dominic Gaskin disclosed in a recent interview that more than 2,448 persons received technical training in the fields of graphic design, photography, orchard establishment, leather craft, climate-smart agriculture and book-keeping. Some 301 micro-enterprises received grant funding in the amount of US$421,000. In addition, 130 loans to the tune of US$2.1 million were disbursed under the Micro and Small Enterprise Development project (MSED)

New jobs are also being created, since Investment agreements were entered into for 136 projects valued $187 billion. Forty of these became operational by the end of 2017.
Redundant sugar workers cannot and must not lose hope. While some of them could be absorbed into ancillary work, many others could be retrained and prepared for work as independent contractors and as peasant cane and cash-crop farmers.