SUGAR workers nationwide have downed tools after the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) failed to engage in collective bargaining with the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) despite conclusion of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the ailing sugar industry.   During an interview with this publication, GAWU President Komal Chand highlighted that “the industry has been closed down by workers with effect from Saturday, given GuySuCo’s continued postponement of discussions with our union on the wages’ issue for this year”.

He said that, over the past months, GAWU had urged GuySuCo to begin negotiations, given that GuySuCo had fixed October 7, 2015 as the date to address the union’s claims for increases in wages and adjustments to certain fringe benefits.
However, by letter to GAWU dated October 6, 2015, GuySuCo requested a further deferment of its engagement with GAWU. In referring to the expected recommendations from the CoI, the GuySuCo missive stated inter alia: “Those recommendations, you would agree, will provide food for thought and a guide to all stakeholders on the way forward. Therefore, it would not be the opportune time for GuySuCo and the Union (GAWU) to commence negotiations when such an important report is awaited.
“We trust that our employees who are members of your union perceive the wisdom in our request and allow the momentum developed in production and productivity to prevail. The corporation once again urges your union and its membership to resume negotiations meetings after the report of the CoI is submitted.”
The CoI report was presented to the Ministry of Agriculture on October 19, 2015, and Chand is lamenting that the union has been unable to get the corporation to sit at the bargaining table for wages’ discussions.
Alleged breach
He pointed out that GuySuCo’s position is in breach of Section 23 (1) of the Trade Union Recognition Act (TURA), which states: “Where a trade union obtains a certification of recognition for workers comprised in a bargaining unit in accordance with this part, the employer shall recognise the union, and the union and the employer shall bargain in good faith and enter into negotiations with each other for the purpose of collective bargaining.”
Chand said, “The meeting of the GAWU General Council on October 24, 2015 discussed the prevailing situation with respect to the non-commencement of the negotiations, and unanimously agreed to engage in protest action at the corporation’s breach of the TURA.
“Now the union is being told we need to await consideration of the CoI report by the government. At the pace of production, the industry’s current crop could come to an end in four (4) weeks’ time, although one or two estates may be in production beyond this time. Yet the wages’ question is not being addressed.
“We also wish to note that since the restoration of collective bargaining in the sugar industry in 1989, at the insistence of the international financial institutions, the commencement of wage negotiations for the past twenty-five years (was) never delayed as late as October. In recent years, at this time of year, though GuySuCo’s performance was not as good as it is this year, the corporation and the union would have seen the wages’ issue already being resolved, or the parties being close to an agreement.
“General Council members noted that other public sector employees have already been granted wage/salary increases since the passage of the 2015 Budget. However, seemingly, sugar workers, who are also eligible to benefit from wage increases, are not being attended to.
“The union calls upon the Corporation to respect the law and the Collective Labour Agreement (CLA) and allow the unusually positive sugar production momentum to hold. The excellent harvesting result should be a strong motivation to GuySuCo at this time to engage the workers’ union in collective bargaining to address the wages’ negotiations.”
Chand confirmed that the projected target of 227,443 tonnes will not be affected, given that, “against the backdrop, workers can always make up for the days missed by working an additional amount of days”.
A meeting has been planned with all the workers to decide on a way forward, he advised.

A POLITICAL FOOTBALL

Agriculture Minister Noel Holder, in a comment invited to this publication, said, “One of the problems with the sugar industry is that it has been used as a political football, resulting in the reduction in productivity over the years… and putting of square pegs in round holes by the PPP government.”
This administration, he added, is taking a hands-off policy and letting managers manage, which has led to what is currently happening. “We have put in an inter-management team and the productivity has gone up, and it surpassed targets for the last three or four weeks,” Minister Holder said.
There is suspicion, he said, that GAWU is now on the defensive, and being a political organisation, is trying to disrupt that process. However, the minister has reiterated that the CoI which was established had on it a GAWU representative who is an economist, hence making the union aware of what is going on.
The union should also be aware of the results of the CoI, which has not been taken to the Cabinet as yet.
“All that is going on is political, and the government does not want to be involved in these kinds of things. We want management to handle it, and we want GAWU to be responsible and look at what they are going to do to the industry,” Minister Holder has cautioned.
No political motivation
Meanwhile, the ongoing industrial action at GuySuCo has been declared to have no political motivation, and it is said that workers are merely protesting for what they think they deserve. This is according to General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Clement Rohee, during the party’s weekly press conference yesterday.
According to Rohee, the sugar workers have a right to demand an increase in their salaries, given that the APNU+AFC administration had just awarded itself a massive increase.
“We consider it as an industrial action staged by sugar workers…. Is it not justifiable for the sugar workers to demand more money?” Rohee asked, as he pointed out that all workers who engage in industrial action must feel peeved by the recent actions taken by the administration.

“When workers feel peeved, the only weapon that they have to resort to make their voice heard is the strike action. As I see it, I think it is clearly and unequivocally an industrial action,” he stated.
In a press release issued on Sunday, GuySuCo expressed disappointment with the decision of the Guyana Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) to proceed on the industry-wide strike.
“Their actions have affected all field and factory operations, breaking the prevailing production momentum. The union is demanding that the corporation commences wages, salaries and fringe benefits’ negotiations for 2015. The corporation and the union had a preliminary meeting on September 16, where the corporation informed the union and the representatives from the various estates that it was unable to commence discussion before the Commission of Inquiry has submitted its findings and recommendations,” GuySuCo said.

By Navendra Seoraj