THE Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) on Monday lashed out at the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), contending that the union’s deliberate attempt to misrepresent the facts constitutes a sinister agenda.GAWU has alleged that 15 workers from the Wales Sugar Estate have been sent to the Uitvlugt Estate, and 105 workers have been fired.

“This release by GAWU is the epitome of GAWU’s mischievousness, and can be construed as being provocative…,” GuySuCo said in a statement on Monday.

The Wales Estate will not be closed, GuySuCo said in its attempt to set the record straight. The corporation has explained that the estate is currently undergoing a process of transition from being primarily a sugar cane cultivation and sugar production entity to an establishment that will be producing other crops.

The estate was identified as the location for the pilot project for the diversification programme of the corporation.

“The 105 employees that the Union has reported as having been “fired” are employees who were offered employment opportunities at the Uitvlugt Estate, but have opted for severance based on advice allegedly from the Union,” the corporation explained. It added that the option of securing employment at Uitvlugt is still open to those workers, should they decide to remain in the employ of the Corporation. Additionally, during the period of issuing the notification for severance, the Corporation is continuing to counsel those persons and encourage them to accept available positions at Uitvlugt.

“The 67 temporary employees who were mentioned in the press release issued by GAWU were engaged with the Corporation on a crop-by-crop arrangement; hence, at the end of the 2nd crop in December, 2015, the engagement naturally came to an end. Therefore, at the beginning of January, 2016, they were not re-engaged, since there was no work that required their services. These temporary employees were in the Crop Husbandry section.

“However, the temporary employees in Harvesting and other job areas have been re-engaged until the end of 2016,” GuySuCo further explained.

On January 20, the Corporation met with GAWU and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE), and with the relevant workers from February 1 – 3, 2016. Notably, the unions were also provided with the list of persons who opted for severance, as stipulated by the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act (TESPA), and a correspondence of notification was sent to GAWU on March 22, 2016 along with the list of employees who opted for redundancy, in accordance with Section 12, Sub-section (2) of TESPA.

GuySuCo said the unions were also informed that the employees were individually informed in writing, and these correspondences were copied to the Chief Labour Officer at the Ministry of Social Protection.

“The Corporation is of the view that GAWU is confused as to its role as a workers’ representative body, and that of GuySuCo as the employer. It is the prerogative of the employer to transfer its workers to locations where skills and expertise are most needed, and as the Corporation deems suitable within reasonable consideration, and as is convenient to the employees.”

Nevertheless, the corporation is extending a hand of friendship to GAWU. “Come to the table and engage the Corporation with a more rational posture and assist in finding solutions to the myriad challenges being experienced by the Corporation, since such engagement would be of invaluable benefit to GuySuCo, its employees, the Unions and other stakeholders, particularly at this point”, GuySuCo has said.