GuySuCo calls on workers to turn out
THE Guyana Sugar Corporation is once again calling on workers to turn out to work and let their grouses be addressed through dialogue rather than resorting to strike at the first instance of a problem. “They will end up hurting the industry; and by extension, themselves, in the end,” a GuySuCo source who wished to remain unnamed stated yesterday.
“We have commenced our first crop, beginning at Uitvlugt. However, the frustrating problems of unnecessary strikes continue unabated,” said the source.
“This is one of the primary reasons which led to the industry falling short of its target in 2010, and having to carry over so many canes into this crop. Some 250 strikes were recorded last year and this is a very unfortunate start to this year,” the person said.
The source said that Blairmont Estate is to have its pre-crop brief today to commence its first crop, while La Bonne Intention and Albion are to commence their crop this weekend.
“[Some] 26 tonnes sugar was declared [yesterday] morning at Uitvlugt, which now brings the total to 92 tonnes sugar produced to date,” the source said.
According to the source, canes have been burnt to load 291 punts.
“However, a strike by both workers from Wales who have been travelling to Uitvlugt to cut canes, and workers from Uitvlugt will definitely lead to losses in the field, stoppage of grinding at the factory and further losses in the time it takes to mobilize, cut and transport canes back to the factory, not to mention restarting the factory, which all adds up in the end result.”
The person noted that harvesting and crop husbandry workers of Uitvlugt are on strike, demanding the payment of the one week Sickness and Provident Benefit to be made. This claim was also made at LBI during their pre-crop brief, the source said.
The Chronicle understands that this one week payment was previously made at the start of the first crop in the New Year, which was traditionally in the month of February.
“However, because of the industry’s desperation to maximize every possible day to harvest and grind its canes, the crop was started as early as possible, in this case at the start of this week at Uitvlugt,” the source said.
“It was the hope of the corporation that the early start to the crop would result in the sugar produced being sent overseas, thereby generating money to pay the workers the one week sickness benefit. This was explained in detail to the workers, yet they went ahead to call a strike, demanding that they be paid their money immediately,” the person disclosed.
“This is a year that opportunities cannot be missed, every day of good weather to harvest means more sugar being produced as we move towards making the target of 300 tonnes of sugar for 2011, which will see us in a better financial position for the benefit of both workers and the nation,” the person disclosed to this newspaper.