In the recent past, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), the main union in the sugar industry, was accused of being irresponsible and perhaps there is some degree of merit in this accusation.

However, GAWU’s recent acceptance of a five percent wage increase by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) has clearly demonstrated that the union has acted responsibly and should be commended for doing so, as the sugar industry is at the crossroads of bouncing back from its recent slump.

In accepting the five percent offer the union alluded to the difficult financial state of the corporation.

In a release, GAWU said that this year is the first time in six years that the corporation and the union reached an accord at bilateral negotiations.

“There was the intervention by arbitrators, conciliators from the Ministry of Labour and the executive president during those past years.

It is also the first time since collective bargaining was restored between the union and the corporation in 1989, when wage-settlement was reached months before the end of the year,” GAWU noted.

GAWU said its 45-strong negotiation team, including elected delegates of the rank-and-file, unanimously approved the five per cent pay increase, notwithstanding the union’s original claim of 12 percent.

“Members of the negotiating team paid cognisance to the audited statement of the corporation for 2010, and the management accounts as at May 31, 2011 which indicate that the cash-strapped corporation, for the first five months of this year, is indebted to creditors and bankers to the tune of over six billion dollars,” GAWU said.

One of the sore points relating to wages negotiations between the union and GUYSUCO  is the tying of wage increases to production. However, Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GUYSUCO, Rajaindra Singh, said that this year’s agreement with the union is not tied to any production target.
He noted however, that the company will try its best to achieve the target or come close to it in order to be able to sustain the increased wages.

This is indeed a step forward and this should set the tone for amicable and stable industrial relations which is so crucial to increased production and productivity.

One of the concerns of GAWU, and none would disagree with it, is the issue of maximizing production at the new, and modern,  Skeldon Sugar Factory which is pivotal in turning around the sugar industry and significantly increasing production.

“GAWU takes this opportunity to insist that the corporation’s board of directors and its management team be tireless in putting the new factory right, so that the estate’s targeted yearly production of 110,000 tonnes would be realised by the end of 2012, the newly set date, ” the union  urged.

The union said  special attention must also be paid to ensure that the current field expansion work is progressing within the approved time-frame, and that the field layout, adequate roads, irrigation canals, and drainage trenches are properly constructed.

“These are among other concerns of the union and we take the opportunity, in the interest of the industry and the workers, to urge that such concerns be addressed with consistency and dispatch,” he said.

“We look forward, in the coming period, that other outstanding issues of the union can be addressed in an amicable and genuinely co-operative atmosphere,”  he added.

If the performance during the first crop is anything to go by, then the new GUYSUCO management team seems to be having its  fingers on the right buttons as it has been addressing concerns of workers and all issues pertaining to increased sugar production and productivity.

All would hope that such a state of affairs would not only be strengthened but also sustained.