– GuySuCo said matter resolved
THE majority of workers from the Factory, the Mill Dock, the Mechanical Tillage and the Field Workshop of Blairmont Estate reportedly did not take up work yesterday at their respective workplaces in solidarity with two of their colleagues who have, allegedly, been denied Industrial Payment Benefit by the National Insurance Scheme (NIS). According to the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), the two sugar workers, Nipaul Omrow and Nazeer Hussain, suffered injuries at their workplaces on March 05 and 09, 2012 respectively.

“They ought to have been paid ever since,” GAWU declared in a statement yesterday.
According to Section 17(1)C of the National Insurance and Social Security Act, Chapter 36:01 Laws of Guyana it is stated:-
“Regulations may provide for treating, for the purposes of any right to benefit, contributions payable by an Employer on behalf of an Insured Person, but not paid as pay, where the failure to pay is shown not to have been with the consent or connivance of or attributable to any negligence on the part of such person.”
GAWU alluded to “a source” in the NIS, who reportedly said that payments were not made to the two workers because the Guyana Sugar Corporation (Guysuco) is in arrears with contribution remittances.
The Union is also demanding that the NIS immediately pay the workers their due benefits without any further delay in keeping with this legal obligation.

Meanwhile, in an invited comment late yesterday afternoon, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the sugar company, Mr. Rajendra Singh said the matter has been resolved.
The Deputy CEO told the Chronicle that GUYSUCO made a payment to the National Insurance Scheme yesterday. Asked to comment on the timeliness of the payment,  Singh responded in the negative, saying the payment was delayed by a few days.
According to Mr. Singh, immediately after the payment, NIS ordered a withdrawal of its directive to ‘hold’ on the claims of employees of the sugar company.