GOVERNMENT yesterday urged all sugar workers and their unions to help rescue the industry and not engage in politically motivated strikes as being planned for next week. Guyana Chronicle was told that the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) has already written the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) advising that its members will be proceeding on a three-day strike commencing Sunday.

GAWU and GuySuCo have been at odds over the delay in wages talks for workers. The corporation has argued that government needs time to study the findings of the recently concluded inquiry into the industry before it can negotiate salaries, but the unions have been pressing the case for talks to commence earliest.
In a statement issued by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, government alluded to the fact that for the first time in years GuySuCo has been able to reach and surpassed weekly targets.
“The government encourages sugar workers to remain committed to their jobs and, with the holiday season approaching, to earn as much as they can before the current crop comes to an end,” Nagamootoo said.
He added that the government finds as most disturbing the agitation, mainly by GAWU, for workers to engage in strike action. “Such action could cripple operations and close down the sugar industry. This is especially alarming and regrettable now that efforts are being made to breathe life into the industry.”
The Prime Minister said government has been looking at all options to revive the industry, which was placed in a state of bankruptcy and almost total ruin by the former PPP/C administration.
Highlighting the issues of GuySuCo over the years, the Prime Minister said production slumped from 327,000 metric tonnes in the 1960s to an average of below 250,000 tonnes between 2008 and 2014. Additionally, under the former administration, the sugar industry never came close to realising the promised 500,000 tonnes target. Between 2009 and 2015 GuySuCo not only failed to make a profit, but suffered estimated total losses of $67.8 billion, the Prime Minister said.
Moreover, he noted that “when the last administration left office, GuySuCo’s debt burden stood at $82 billion.” He said it is “therefore irrefutable that under that administration, GuySuCo had lost its way. It is for this reason that the coalition government supported a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the sugar industry.
“The interim report has confirmed the poor and declining state of GuySuCo as a result of political interference, poor management and squandermania,” Prime Minister Nagamootoo asserted.
10-Year Road Map
Noting that GuySuCo is on its way to success, Nagamotoo said that after a mere five months in office, the coalition government is seeking to put a 10-Year Road Map and Action Plan in place, aimed at returning the industry to viability.
“It would therefore be ill advised and indeed premature to commence wages talks before this plan is considered. Unions that seek to drag the sugar corporation to the table to do so are obviously pursuing a political agenda which unfortunately is not in the interest of sugar workers. The government has, for the first time, allowed management to run GuySuCo independently and to make into a top priority a lasting solution to secure employment and also to make the industry profitable.”
The Prime Minister said due to its virtual insolvent status under the former administration, taxpayers were forced to dole out $28 billion in the last five years alone (2011 – 2015) to keep the sugar industry afloat.
He also noted that “with its debt load of $82 billion and an expected $5 billion needed for capital investment, together with the anticipated further bailout in 2016, any strike action in the industry would bring sugar finally to its knees.
Government, therefore, appeals for the understanding and the full cooperation of all sugar workers at this time of great peril to ensure that production targets continue to be met.”
Nagamootoo made it clear that the coalition government did not create the problems affecting the sugar industry, asserting that the blame ought to be placed elsewhere.
“It is government’s view that any industrial action at this time will place the industry into further jeopardy. Government is regrettably unable to increase the bailout package above the $12 billion for 2015 and strike action will not change this reality,” he said.
Mr Nagamootoo said too that in the meantime, government is analysing the interim findings and recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry and GAWU as an integral part of the CoI ought to know that industrial agitation is not an option at this time.
Government once again, the Prime Minister emphasised, is imploring all sugar workers to steadfastly remain committed to the industry and to partner with management for its recovery.