Meeting set today to finalise arbitration proceedings

A MEETING between the Ministry of Labour, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) was held yesterday, regarding the move to arbitration, following the suspension of a worker at the Skeldon Sugar Estate.

And GAWU President, Mr. Komal Chand, told the Guyana Chronicle that all parties have agreed that there will be one arbitrator.
He added that at the two-hour meeting yesterday, there were also talks on who the arbitrator will be and the terms of reference to outline the scope of work for the arbitration tribunal.
“We will be meeting tomorrow (today) to agree on a name and on a common terms of reference from the proposals that were discussed today,” Chand said.
The move to arbitration follows GuySuCo’s rejection of the recommendation of the Ministry of Labour to reinstate Mr. Daniels Steven, who was suspended after an altercation with an estate manager.
The suspension last month resulted in a massive strike in the sugar belt and subsequent agreement between GuySuCo and GAWU.
Six conditions were agreed to yesterday by the union and GuySuCo, which state that:
1. The strike by field and factory workers will end;
2. The union will ensure full resumption of duties by field and factory workers from the day the strike ended;
3. There will be no victimisation on either side because of strike actions;
4. All workers who were on strike will not have their ‘strike day’ counted as absent, but as days not available for work;
5. That the dismissal of the Skeldon factory employee, Mr. Steven Daniels, will be now treated as a suspension, without pay, until the end of the reconciliation talks; and
6. Within 24-hours, after resumption of duties, the aggrieved parties – including GAWU – will meet with the Chief Labour Officer, who will make a final decision on the matter.
Those talks were held with the Chief Labour Officer acting as a mediator, who can make recommendations on the matter, but not a binding decision.
GuySuCo, in a statement on the matter, said, “GuySuCo has rejected the Chief Labour Officer’s recommendation to reinstate the dismissed worker, Mr. Daniels Steven, who was summarily dismissed on September 20, 2014, for physically assaulting the Manager of Skeldon Estate. The CLO’s recommendation was made in his capacity as conciliator after two meetings with the corporation and the union, the last being October 1, 2014.”

EVIDENCE AGAINST STEVEN
According to the corporation, its rejection of the CLO’s recommendation is premised on fact that it has evidence that favours the estate manager.
“The CLO’s recommendation is premised on the availability of statements by workers and staff who gave evidence that the estate manager was neither under the influence of alcohol nor was aggressive towards Stevens, and that on the contrary, it was Stevens who was aggressive towards the manager, which resulted in him physically assaulting the manager,” GuySuCo said.
As such, the corporation has requested the Ministry of Labour to move the matter forward to the next stage of the procedure, which is arbitration.
GuySuCo said, “The corporation wishes to restate, as it did in previous statements, that the estate manager, in his usual night visits to the factory and mill dock, met a group of workers that included Daniels Steven who were malingering in the vicinity of the mill dock and cautioned them to report to their respective work stations.
“On being cautioned by the manager, Steven became abusive and was calmly advised by the manager to heed his advice and report to his work station. Steven subsequently retaliated and approached the manager in a hostile manner, and struck the manager in his face.
“The incident was witnessed by several staff and workers, all of whom have testified in written statements that the estate manager was neither intoxicated nor aggressive and abusive to Steven.”

GAWU’S TAKE
Meanwhile, Chand, told the Guyana Chronicle that GuySuCo’s move was in line with the terms agreed.
“It is agreed by the union and GuySuCo that should the matter remain unresolved, there will be a move to arbitration,” he said.
However, he noted that it is interesting that after two weeks since the last meeting, GuySuCo made the decision to go to arbitration.
“It was unexpected,” Chand said, but contends that GAWU will adhere to the terms of the initial agreement and work to have the matter resolved.
The GAWU President, in a prior comment, had explained that the strike stemmed from an alleged altercation between Estate Manager, Mr. Dave Kumar and Daniels, a worker at the Skeldon sugar estate.
He said the report he received is that on the day of the altercation, at around 11:30pm, the estate manager, who had allegedly been consuming alcohol, was on his way to the Dock Mill, where a cane harvest had been offloading. Before he reached there, he met several workers and reportedly asked them to move. The allegation is that all the workers did not remove immediately and the estate manger became incensed.
“The report we have is that the worker was verbally abused, he was cursed at, and there was a scuffle where the estate manger allegedly attempted to hit him,” Chand had said.
He added that the worker continued working, but was later informed that he was fired and escorted off the premises by the estate’s security personnel. Consequently, workers moved to strike action.

(By Vanessa Narine)