…except for a small number from Rose Hall and LBI
WORKERS of the Guyana Sugar Corporation returned to work yesterday following a one-day strike on Monday aimed at piling on the pressure to force the hand of the company to pay a demanded 15 percent increase in wages and salaries. Speaking to this newspaper yesterday, workers attached to the Enmore factory said that while they have returned to work, if there is no progress between the company and the union by the end of the week, they will resume strike action.
“Everybody gan back a wuk. Abi nah hear nuttin. If abi nah hear back nuttin betime now to Friday, abi guh strike again,” one of the men said as he and others left for lunch around 11:00hrs.
Speaking to this newspaper, President of GAWU, Komal Chand, said the union has not heard from GuySuCo as yet. He said the union has not issued any ultimatum about a further strike and confirmed that with the exception of Rose Hall and LBI, workers of the corporation have resumed duties.
He said that some gangs of workers from Rose Hall Estate and LBI are not going back to work, since they felt that the strike action needed to last a longer time.
The Guyana Agriculture and General Workers Union (GAWU) called the industry-wide strike on Monday, affecting the operations of all eight of the GuySuCo estates and reducing Guysuco’s hopes of achieving this year’s already downscaled production target of 264,000 tonnes.
The workers returned to work yesterday in the hope that the engagement between GAWU and the Corporation could continue.
The Union said that the Corporation’s current predicament of securing under 60 percent attendance of cane cutters on any working day is a result of the continuous falling purchasing power of the workers.
The corporation’s representative had told GAWU’s negotiators that at this time the Corporation is not too sure that 264,000 tonnes could be achieved for 2010; and on that basis, it was not in a position to make an offer. But the union said that it cannot agree to have the wage increase determined at the conclusion of the year’s production, since this is not normal Union-Company procedure.
The Corporation expressed its disappointment at the decision by workers represented by GAWU to engage in strike.
Guysuco contended that any offer for wages and salaries increase for this year must be contingent on the industry at least achieving the revised target of 264,000 tonnes of sugar. It noted that the week ending October 16, 2010, was the only week the Corporation achieved 9,800 tonnes of sugar; and with ten weeks remaining for the second crop, the industry will have to produce in excess of 10,000 tonnes weekly to achieve the 2010 target, weather permitting
“With this in mind, the Corporation has informed GAWU that unless it is encouraged by increased workers turnout and productivity, it would not be in a position to make any reasonable offer for wages and salaries increases,” Guysuco said in its release on Monday.
Guysuco acknowledged that present worker turnout figures and production are far below its targets and that the highest attendance for the current crop was recorded at 68 percent at Blairmont, and the lowest of 43 percent at Skeldon, with an industry average of 57 percent.
GuySuCo said in the release that low workers turnout has a direct consequence on grinding and that the highest average figure recorded for grinding at the factories per week is 130 hours at Rose Hall and Blairmont, with the lowest of 66 hours recorded at LBI. GuySuCo said that if the industry is to achieve a minimum of 10,000 tonnes of sugar per week for the remainder of the crop, the factories will have to grind at least 135 hours per week.