union claims GuySuCo intends to close the estate

EVEN though there is a significant amount of cane to be harvested at the Enmore Estate, East Coast Demerara, some sugar workers there are objecting to work, GuySuCo Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Errol Hanoman said.

“The rain had set us back but we are trying to harvest as much cane as possible… and there is a lot of cane to be harvested,” he told Guyana Chronicle when contacted on Wednesday.

He added: “The more cane we harvest, the more sugar we produce, the more revenue we generate.”

Hanoman emphasised that the main focus of the Corporation right now is to harvest as much canes as possible. He said both male and female workers were encouraged to assist in the harvesting of cane but some objected.

The women were also asked to weed but they objected to that too.

Asked whether GuySuCo’s decision to stop fertilising canes at the East Demerara Estate is an indication that the estate will be closed, Hanoman said the future of the industry is in the hands of the Government.

“We are awaiting Government’s decision on the future of the industry.”

He spoke to this newspaper an hour after the Guyana Agriculture and General Workers Union (GAWU) contended that the decision to stop the fertilising of canes is paving the way for the closure of the estate.

In a statement, the union said it met with workers who are engaged in the applying of fertilisers to the canes at the East Demerara Estate (Enmore Estate and LBI Estate).

During a meeting with GAWU General Secretary, Seepaul Narine, at the union’s head office, the workers said the estate management informed them that they are no longer required to apply fertilisers.

“Every day we see the signs of closure becoming clearer. The workers are opposed to closure and have pointed out that they would be unable to find jobs should the decision be fully pursued,” GAWU contended.

“They want to close the industry but I am saying no to the closing of Enmore because if they close the industry, we will suffer and we children will suffer,” one woman told reporters.

According to her, any move to close the East Demerara Estate will give rise to crime and prostitution.

Another woman, a single parent mother, said she “can’t mek the weeding wuk”.
The sugar workers are asking Government to intervene.