Scores of workers from the Wales Sugar Estate on Thursday protested the decision to close the estate within a year, calling for the Government to immediately reverse the decision.The workers were seen with placards bearing comments of disapproval as they stood in front of the Public Buildings. They chant “Don’t close de estate”; “GuySuCo management must go”.

According to Sultan Hussain, an employee of the Wales Estate, the move to close the estate was a “rash” one, contending that the workers should have been consulted on the decision. “Nothing ain’t put in place for the workers,” he claimed, adding that “you just announce that you are closing the estate. People have mortgage; people have to pay for vehicles they bought; they have family and children going to school. What will they do?” he questioned.
GuySuCo had said that the work force of Wales will be absorbed by Uitvlugt Estate while the Wales Estate lands will be diversified. Most likely, the diversification will provide employment for some of the redundant workers.
Mr Hussain also related that the estate’s management last year had told employees that the estate was not performing badly and was saving in millions.
“Why is it then that they want to close it down if we were doing so good?” he asked, adding that “They even told us that we were ranked the third best performing estate and that they want people from other estates to come and follow our pattern.”
Contrary to what the workers were reportedly told, the Wales Estate was not the third best performing estate last year. The estate for years has been in a state of decline and the former administration had plans in place to close it down due to its deplorable state and the crisis in the sugar industry.
Leading the protest were several People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Executives, including Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo. Speaking to the media briefly, Mr Jagdeo reiterated that the PPP is willing to support the Government to solicit funding for the sugar industry once they reverse the decision.
He noted that sugar has made a valuable contribution to Guyana and closing the Wales Estate is not the best thing to do presently. “I believe that sugar has made a significant contribution to this country. Sugar is going through a difficult period and the State needs to stand by sugar. You cannot do a financial rate of return and look at the profitability of every estate. You need to look at the economic rate of return because sugar means more than just the profitability of each estate,” the Opposition Leader said.

Analysis
……………………………….
Excerpts from the COI report
“THE DECLINE: Sugar production has been on the decline since 2005 dropping from 325,318 metric tonnes in 2004 to 216,358 metric tonnes in 2014. [GuySuCo] LOSS POSITION worsened and climbed significantly from 2009.” Page 14, Report of Commission of Inquiry, Guyana Sugar Corporation
“GuySuCo worsened its liquidity problems, with the harsh negative impact on field and factory operations, when the Skeldon Sugar Modernisation Project (SSMP) came on stream.” (Pages 18-19, Report of Commission of Inquiry, Guyana Sugar Corporation)
The PPP pumped US$10.6BILLION dollars of GuySuCo money into the FAILED Skeldon project, while neglecting other estates for years.
From the commencement of the Skeldon project in 2005 when GuySuCo had to initially contribute US$25MILLION from its European Union receivables over a period of 18 months, GuySuCo’s liquidity declined rapidly. As a consequence, GuySuCo became heavily dependent on bank overdrafts, and extended credit periods to maintain the operations of the business. This was the start of the decline of GuySuCo’s financial position leading to its present state of insolvency. The decline in liquidity resulted in a lack of capital investment in GuySuCo’s other estates in fields and factories. This contributed to the marked decrease in cane and sugar production. (Pages 19-20, Report of Commission of Inquiry, Guyana Sugar Corporation)
It has been well established and known that GuySuCo’s production costs are comparatively high, with labour costs being the significant component. Yet, between the years 2010 to 2014, when sugar production was declining and GuySuCo’s declared loss increased every year, wages and salaries climbed markedly. Given that backdrop, it is amazing that in 2011, following a job evaluation exercise, salaries and wages were increased with many workers receiving more than 50% increase.
This review raised the annual salaries and wages bill by $1.8BILLION. (Page 26, Report of Commission of Inquiry, Guyana Sugar Corporation)
Additionally, between 2010 and 2014 employment costs increased by $6.3B the equivalent of 43%. This was done during a period when GuySuCo was running at a loss. The question of affordability seemed not to matter. (Page 26, Report of Commission of Inquiry, Guyana Sugar Corporation)
It was quite surprising to learn that GuySuCo (employer) has over the years 2011-2015 been sending its employees for training at the Trade Union’s College. The annual cost to GuySuCo is estimated at $4,000,000. Man days lost from 2011 to August 2015 totaled 5,890. The course content included: visits to Cheddi Jagan Research Centre/Thunder in Guyana; the importance of ideology and Marxism/Leninism as the ideology of the working class; Capitalism – Imperialism – Globalisation (Page 28, Report of Commission of Inquiry, Guyana Sugar Corporation)
The Wales Cane farmers expressed interest in leasing additional acreages of cultivation leading to taking over all of GuySuCo’s cultivation at Wales. This should be pursued eagerly by GuySuCo. (Page 30, Report of Commission of Inquiry, Guyana Sugar Corporation)

By Ravin Singh