– Says President at martyrs’ commemoration
President Bharrat Jagdeo has said that persons must never allow the definition of the Enmore Martyrs to be just about bread and butter issues, and that it must also include freedom, dignity and respect. Speaking at the commemoration to make the 62nd anniversary of the shooting to death by colonial police of the five sugar workers at the Enmore Estate, the President said the sugar workers at that time lacked respect and dignity and they did not live in a free society.
President Jagdeo said the slain five ignited a process that continued over a long period. He said the result of this is that Guyana is a free country “where people can live in dignity and respect for each other.”
He said, “We are going to have to continue this struggle,” noting that levels and degrees of freedom have to continue to evolve. “I am happy that we live in a country where people are not judged by race, religion or gender,” President Jagdeo said, adding that in spite of the difficulties, the country has a clear path charted for improvement and “we are making progress.”
The President said that the current generation has to make a level of sacrifice “which is absolutely necessary,” since they will yield benefits in the future and the next generation will be the beneficiaries. Having said this, President Jagdeo said that wage increases at the expense of spending on education or some other social good is “short-sighted.”
The Head of State said that Government cannot eat up all the money it earns in the payment of increased wages and salaries. “We are not going to leave for our children any burden of unsustainable debt…a living wage has to be earned…” the President said.
He said that while certain demands in the sugar industry might be justified, persons cannot flippantly ignore the full impact of the 36 percent cuts in the price of sugar that Guyana sells to Europe. He said that cuts translated into dollars equate to $9.8 billion per year in losses for the country’s economy.
The President said also that the recent slide of the euro has caused further losses in sugar earnings.
He explained that because of the weakening euro, Guyana is losing an additional 14 percent of the earnings from sugar exports to Europe. According to the President, the exchange movement has caused some $840 million in losses.
The President said any country which has one of its main industries losing 15 percent of its revenue is certainly in trouble.
He said the Government has recognized the importance of the sugar sector and it is for that reason that it continues to work with the industry. But he said when it is necessary, Government will take tough management decisions and he needed the workers to understand this. He said the Government has been working hard to make changes.
President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), Komal Chand, said that though the sugar workers have scored several successes, “We remain vigilant that the gains are not reversed.” He called for there to be unity in the demands for the industry.
Chand said that the martyrdom of the five sugar workers must be seen as part of the wider struggle for justice on the part of Dr. Cheddi Jagan.
Sugar, Chand said, plays a major role in the economy of Guyana and must not be allowed to fail, saying that if this should happen, it will be nothing short of devastation. He said that over the past five years, the average production of the sugar industry was 246,000 tonnes per year. He said that this almost 50,000 tonne shortfall in production could have earned Guyana $50 billion dollars.
Chand called for Guysuco to fix the defects in the Skeldon plant so that it could be up and running to full capacity and bring about the generation eventually of 400,000 tonnes across the industry by 2014. He also called for the company to ensure that the Enmore packaging plant which is expected to commence construction in February 2011 will be held to strict timelines.
Kenneth Joseph, General Secretary of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG), said that the five martyrs were in a struggle for their freedom and noted that there will continue to be various definitions of freedom and rights in a country. He said that the martyrs had no desire to enter into the pages of history and only wanted improved working conditions, better wages, and the right to be associated with the trade union movement of their choice. He said that today workers are still seeking these conditions.
According to Joseph, the feeling among the workers is that the amalgamation of estates is not going to yield positive results for the industry, nor is the transfer of managerial staff or the new system of salary targets for managers. He said too that ignoring the social interest of the workers is also not going the way it should. He said that some good will emerge should management take a look at the industry.
Joseph called for direct participation of the workers on the Board of Directors of the company, saying that this has been ignored for far too long. He also called for the sustainability of Guysuco’s production in the name of the slain martyrs.