THE Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) Monday denied claims by the main sugar workers union GAWU that 50 workers attached to the Wales estate were dismissed. GuySuCo chief executive Errol Hanoman said any worker no longer with the estate would have been temporary staff with whom the Corporation had no agreement for continuous employment.
GAWU in a press statement had condemned what it said was the dismissal of more than 50 workers.
GAWU President, Komal Chand, told the Guyana Chronicle Monday it was informed that the workers were sent home at the weekend; he acknowledged that they could not be in line for severance pay because they were temporary workers.
Hanoman described the news of workers being sacked as “erroneous”, noting that GAWU is not properly informed on the workers issues at Wales. He said that at the moment there are 11 to 13 persons at Wales who have been identified for possible separation from the estate. However, he noted that those persons, who are mechanical and tilling workers may be given an opportunity to continue working if avenues sought by GuySuco to find work for them are realized.
Hanoman said that the Corporation has work available for their entire current staff who are employed on a full-time basis.
Last month, government announced the closure of the factory mainly on economic grounds, stating that to continue diverting funds from the industry to keep Wales factory afloat would jeopardise the industry. Among the steps announced in light of the plans to close the factory, the Government informed through the Ministry of Agriculture, was that further land preparation and planting will not continue at the estate, and as the estate’s cultivation is harvested, the land would be retired and held for other diversification ventures.
The Wales factory would operate throughout 2016, milling both the estate’s and farmers’ canes, with final closure at the end of the 2nd crop this year. It addition, with effect from 2017, the Government said, farmers’ canes will be milled at the Uitvlugt factory; and during this year, the routing of the farmers’ canes to Uitvlugt would be determined to ensure the least additional cost.