CHIEF Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), Dr. Raj Singh yesterday confirmed that workers at the Skeldon Sugar Estate, both factory and field, have resorted to strike action.

“We have a strike, and are working to resolve it,” he said, adding that the workers on strike are associated with the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU).
GAWU President, Mr. Komal Chand, when contacted, explained that the strike stemmed from an alleged altercation between Estate Manager, Mr. Dave Kumar and one of the workers at the estate.
He said the report he received is that last Friday, at around 11:30pm, the estate manager, who had allegedly been consuming alcohol, was on his way to the Dock Mill, where a cane harvest had been offloading. Before he reached there, he met several workers and reportedly asked them to move. The allegation is that all the workers did not remove immediately and the estate manger became incensed.
“The report we have is that the worker was verbally abused, he was cursed at, and there was a scuffle where the estate manger allegedly attempted to hit him,” Chand said.
He added that the worker continued working, but was later informed that he was fired and escorted off the premises by the estate’s security personnel.
As a result, workers moved to strike action. “We understand that there was a meeting between Mr. Kumar and a workers representative, but the estate manager has refused to rescind his dismissal orders,” he said.
The GAWU president disclosed that the workers have indicated that they will continue their strike action today. “We will be meeting tomorrow (today) to address the situation,” he said.
Attempts to contact Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, for a comment on the matter proved futile.
The Skeldon factory, which has been the target of much criticism, has been performing well over the past few weeks, but the strike action is expected to affect its production.
Skeldon Estate has surpassed its target of 13,795 tonnes of sugar for the first crop this year by 40 tonnes, comparing more than favourably with the actual production of 4,994 and 6,633 tonnes in 2013 and 2012, first crops, respectively.
In the second crop this year, Skeldon Estate is targeted to process 363,284 tonnes cane to produce 26,969 tonnes sugar.
The first crop was successful, surpassing the 75,000 tonnes target, bringing in about 80,000 tonnes. The overall target for 2014 has been moved from 216,000 tonnes to 219,000 tonnes. Sugar production came in at a dismal 186,500 tonnes for 2013, but Guyana has been taking steps to turn around the sugar industry and hopes to meet the 300,000 tonnes target soon, with a projection that the sector will reach its 400,000-tonne goal by 2020.

(By Vanessa Narine)