–suspended worker still to be reinstated
THE four per cent pay increase for sugar workers is payable, according to President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), Mr. Komal Chand.He told the Guyana Chronicle that the new rate, implemented on October 5, has been used to adjust the rate of payments made to sugar workers.
The increase follows the completion of negotiations with the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and the GAWU, among other stakeholders.
Chand also noted that the increase, which is retroactive from January 1 to October 4, is yet to be paid.
“The sugar workers are being paid the adjusted rate, which includes the four per cent increase, but with regard to the retroactive monies, GuySuCo has to identify the time when it will be paid. If we are to go according to what has happened in the past, then we can expect those monies to be paid in November or in December,” he said.
OUTSTANDING MATTER
Addressing the matter of an altercation between the Skeldon Estate Manager and an employee, which led to a massive strike in September, Chand said GuySuCo is still to act on the Ministry of Labour’s recommendation.
“For the strike to be called off we agreed to a Terms of Resumption (TOR), which included reconciliation talks. Those happened and the Ministry of Labour made a recommendation. The ministry can only make a recommendation, not a decision,” he explained.
Chand bemoaned the fact that GuySuCo, two weeks after the talks have ended, is still to act on the matter.
“The recommendation was that Mr. Stephen Daniel, the employee, should be reinstated and paid for the period he was suspended, because of the fact that the natural course of justice, the protocol, was not followed,” he said.
According to him, if GuySuCo’s decision on the matter is not acceptable, there will be a move to arbitration.
“We will have to go back to the ministry and declare the matter deadlocked. We will have to negotiate the terms of arbitration and have the matter settled there. At that stage, the decisions made will be binding,” he said.
(Vanessa Narine)
