AMID public outcry by the opposition and other groups over government’s plans to diversify the sugar industry, veteran trade unionist, Lincoln Lewis said the PPP was being hypocritical at best, as they had treated bauxite workers worst when they privatised that industry.Writing in his Guyana Chronicle column ‘Eye on Guyana’ under the caption: “Do suh nah like suh”, Lewis said it was “this same PPP/C, during the Bharrat Jagdeo presidency, that sent home all the workers of the then state-owned bauxite industry. The Jagdeo government refused to talk with the workers’ unions about a rescue plan for the industry, and severance benefits for the workers.” Lewis added that pleas by the workers’ unions- the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers (GB&GWU) and Guyana Mines Workers Union (GMWU)- and then Leader of the Opposition, Desmond Hoyte, to meet with the unions and stakeholders to develop an alternative plan were ignored. “Instead of engaging the unions on the workers’ welfare, Jagdeo visited Everton, Kwakwani and Linden, and lured the workers into forming what he called “workers committees” to meet with him and discuss their future.”

Lewis charged that the PPP/C had moved ruthlessly to address the challenges in bauxite, noting that they took away bauxite workers’ negotiated tax-free overtime – which was achieved through their sweat, and extended to sugar workers, under the Desmond Hoyte administration, but kept it in sugar. He added that all bauxite workers were fired, their approximately $3 billion Pension Plan was dismantled and repeated public calls for

stakeholders engagement were ignored. “LINMINE was sold to a foreign investor for $1.00, and the well-being of workers and their communities were placed on life- support,” Lewis said.

According to the trade unionist today the same “uncaring PPP/C,” now in opposition, is calling for a compassionate approach to sugar, and this is only because these workers are seen as their support base. Lewis said sugar workers must also remember the poor treatment meted out to them under the Bharrat Jagdeo regime, and the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union served with a letter of de-recognition, which conflicts with the Trade Union Recognition law. “Managers were imposed on the industry without consultation and agreement with the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) Board.”

Concerns
Lewis said sugar workers are within their right to be concerned about their future, given the problems of GuySuCo and the uncertainty about the way forward, however, he said sugar has had problems for years. According to Lewis, when during the Hoyte administration, the Booker Tate management firm was invited in 1990 to manage the company, the other crops division did not rank in primacy of interest. “The PPP/C assumed office in 1992 and the continued relegation of the other crops division worked to the perils of the company.”

Lewis said to his credit the Forbes Burnham government sought to address the economic problems by seeking to diversify the company, but these efforts were resisted by others and the opposition political forces, including the PPP and Working People’s Alliance. “Ideas of diversifying and creating a Diversification Plan, as now being floated, though appear new, were applied in the past and many who today advocate for these worked against them. This is indicative that our debased politics is of such that emphasis is not placed on programmes and messages, but on the messengers,” Lewis charged.

Lewis noted that on entering office the APNU+AFC commissioned a public inquiry into the performance of GuySuCo and the PPP/C refused to appear before the commission and let its views be known, including recommendations to make the company viable, content to stand on the sideline and shout that the company must not be closed.

The government subsequently established a special committee, which according to Lewis, came after much public agitation for the inclusion of stakeholders. Headed by Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan, who was at time of its commissioning, Leader for the AFC, the PPP/C participated in these meetings, but failed to submit a proposal, and as it calls for the industry not to be closed, it is also calling for a ‘needs-assessment’ before closing it.

Lewis said asking for a ‘needs-assessment’ is not without merit, but stressed that the PPP/C failed to do exactly this during its 23 years in office, even as it was fully aware that sugar was in crisis and such an assessment would have been important in making decisions on the industry’s future. “This instance serves as another reminder of how politicians treat the people and their business with contempt.”

Speaking at a Babu Jaan function on Sunday in memory of President Cheddi Jagan, Jagdeo called on Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) workers to resist any closure of estates and government’s diversification plans. “Why is it that sugar workers, when they now go on strike – a routine thing provided by law (that) they’re told that if you do this we will shut down the factory it is against the law. It is again to drive fear into the minds of sugar workers so they become less militant, so they won’t want to take protest action because if they do they will have consequences. The sugar workers have to be prepared to take to the streets too. You have to be prepared mentally. Sugar workers used to strike when the PPP was in office. We need to see that now too,” he said.

Government last week assured that the welfare of the workers and their families is of primary concern as it pursues its diversification plans. “The other economic concerns and so on will, of course be dealt with but the workers’ interest is at the forefront of whatever policy we’re going to embrace with respect to the sugar industry,” Harmon told reporters at a post-Cabinet media briefing last Thursday.

He said too that the coalition government is expected to present a White Paper in the National Assembly soon, as it relates to the future of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo). The issue was discussed extensively at the ministerial conference held on February 28, at State House, when Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder, made his presentation. The conclusion of consultations between government, the unions and the opposition on GuySuCo’s future, along with the options advanced by the government and the proposal made by the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) will form the basis of the White Paper.