– GAWU President  expresses satisfaction at this development
THE Guyana Sugar Cooperation (GuySuCo) has honoured its commitment to pay sugar workers across the country their Annual Production Incentive (API) for last year. According to President of the Guyana Agriculture and General Workers Union (GAWU), Komal Chand, all GAWU and National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NACCIE) unionized workers,    across the sugar belt,  were paid on Friday last.
He made this disclosure yesterday, during an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, where he expressed his satisfaction over this development.
“The workers have been paid and they are satisfied. They knew how much they would be receiving before the payments as this was previously discussed; so no one is dissatisfied or disappointed,” Chand said.
He pointed out that  most workers were in receipt of  no less than 7.5 average days pay, tax free,  with the exception of three estates where workers received more; this, he said, was due to the different classes of workers at the estates.
Alluding to the effects of the recent spate of strikes at several estates, on GuySuCo’s set target of 265,000 tonnes of sugar for this year, he said, “They (GuySuCo) has assured us that they have enough canes to achieve this, this is left to be seen.”
Meanwhile, he assured that presently, “all things are running smoothly” at all of the factories across the country.
Agriculture Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy had given his assurances last month that the annual production incentive (API) will be paid to sugar workers by March 16,
He explained that, due to constraints faced by GuySuCo, there was a delay in paying the API at the pre-arranged time.
“The API was earned for the production last year, about seven days’ pay; and that should have been paid as soon as the (last) year ended, but because of the constraints that GuySuCo had, it had agreed that it will pay (the API) on March 16,” Ramsammy had said.
Early into the grinding season last month, hundreds of workers from several sugar estates staged strike actions in protest of non payment of the API, among other issues.
Despite these setbacks, Minister Ramsammy as well as GuySuCo’s Chief Executive Officer, Paul Bhim, maintained that the 2012 production target of 265,000 tonnes of sugar is still reachable.