HUMAN Resources Director of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO), Jai Petam, has indicated that all workers who were previously on strike have resumed duty. However, the issues that spawned the strike are still unresolved. The National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) is expected to meet with the Chairman of GUYSUCO on Friday to discuss a way forward.
General Secretary of NAACIE, Kenneth Joseph, indicated that the protest action did have some merit, since it attracted the attention of the board of directors. However, the next step will be decided upon after the meeting on Friday.
Joseph is confident that the protest actions were necessary, since workers were very angry and needed to “blow off some steam”.
Meanwhile, Petam advised that the strike, which lasted approximately four days, had no effect on production, despite GUYSUCO recently having had to review its sugar production target for this year, cutting it by 30,000 tonnes.
The reason for this downward revised target, Petam said, is that the corporation experienced several problems this year, including inclement weather and low worker turnout, among other productivity issues.
Nevertheless, Petam disclosed that GuySuCo was working assiduously to meet its new target of 237,000 tonnes.