SUGAR workers attached to the Rose Hall Estate have returned to duty days after they had proceeded on strike over several issues.The workers had expressed dissatisfaction over how the payment system was being applied. However, every piece-rated employee (harvester, planter, shovelman, fertilizing hand, etc.) within the Corporation, is expected to complete their respective shared tasks based on the agreed required standard, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) stated in a release.

According to GuySuCo, a cane harvester is therefore expected to cut and load (manual) or cut and stack (semi-mechanical) no less 2.6 or 5.0 metric tonnes of cane per day, respectively.

“This is an established productivity index in the Corporation and the Estate management was simply enforcing the rules at the Rose Hall Estate. It should be noted that this procedure is observed at other estates,” GuySuCo noted.

On October 3, 2016, management met with union representatives from the Rose Hall Estate on the prevailing situation and after discussion, the union representatives were better informed that the ‘work shared, work cut’ principle which has been a part of the rules for a number of years, was merely being enforced.

“The Corporation wishes to reiterate that the workers were at no time deprived of their normal payments. However, the workers were advised that payment for obstacle (extras) is based on a principle that the work shared must be completed to offset full payment of the extras. The misconception that workers payment for canes cut and loaded was withheld is misleading,” the sugar company clarified.

According to the company, management is pleased that the representatives’ saw the wisdom from the discussion to have normalcy prevail resulting in the resumption of duty, and is committed to working with the employees at Rose Hall, to ensure that the estate achieves its target for this Second Crop.

In addition, the parties agreed to reconvene a second meeting on Wednesday October 12, 2016 to have further dialogue on this issue and other related concerns.