…stresses fair treatment, adequate notice

MINISTER of State, Joseph Harmon expressed shock and disappointment at the Guyana Sugar Corporation’s (GuySuCo) decision to issue redundancy letters to sugar workers, saying that Cabinet was not informed but Agriculture Minister Noel Holder said the decision was in keeping with the White Paper presented the National Assembly earlier this year.

For Holder, GuySuCo is duty-bound to do what it has to do. Last week, GuySuCo reportedly started issuing redundancy letters to sugar workers from the Rose Hall Estate in East Berbice, close to a month after government announced that the scheduled year-end closure of the Rose Hall and Enmore estates will be delayed until 2018 since no system is in place for the sugar workers following the closure.

Speaking during the break of the budget debates in Parliament on Tuesday, the Minister of State said he, like thousands of Guyanese, read about GuySuCo’s active decision in the press. According to him, Cabinet was not informed of the decision. He said though GuySuCo is a corporation, government has a responsibility. “…of course the Government, because of its responsibility to always provide bailouts for it (GuySuCo) and the fact that we have a bigger responsibility of ensuring that there is stability in the nation, that the people of this country, workers in particular are treated fairly, we believe that at least some prior notification ought to have been given of this attempt, this letter that was sent out for these workers,” Minister Harmon told Guyana Chronicle.

He said if Cabinet was notified, and the decision was necessary, measures would have been

put in place to cushion the impact. “Having said that I am aware that sometime ago, a long time ago GuySuCo had indicated its intention of taking this course of action but one would have believed that having regard to the several initiatives that are being taken, the fact that the Special Purpose Unit has actually said that they are having some very good responses to their offers, one would have thought that at least they could have dealt with it a little differently,” Minister of State further said. The matter, he assured, will be discussed at Cabinet and a decision will be made in the best interest of the people.

No surprise
Minutes later, the Agriculture Minister told this newspaper that the decision to release the workers was long in the making, and should not come as a surprise. He explained that the actions taken by GuySuCo to close the estates are aligned with the State Paper that was presented to the National Assembly earlier in May. “From the GuySuCo standpoint, there is no cane in the ground, so there is no way you can continue the operation of a factory because the cane has just been finished with the crop. So GuySuCo is duty-bound to do what they have to do,” the agriculture minister stated.

Minister Holder emphasised that the White Paper on the Future of the Sugar Industry clearly stated GuySuCo’s plans to scale down its operations. He said the question now, is, “what happens after January the first?” It was noted that while GuySuCo is responsible for scaling down its operation, the Special Purpose Unit was established to engage investors for the purpose of diversification.

“They are looking at people who are making offers, some people might want to continue the estate as an estate or they might not. A decision is being made that if the people are coming in, they will come in with a new slate, in short, they wouldn’t have to be dealing with the old union, and so on, which is one of the reasons which have contributed to the breakup of GuySuCo…,” Minister Holder posited. He noted that new investors, if needs be, would have to renegotiate with the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU).

Stating clearly that the SPU does not fall under the Ministry of Agriculture, but rather the Finance Ministry, Minister Holder said the unit holds the decision in its hands. For him, at GuySuCo there is no work for the affected. “The problem comes back to what happens after the 31st GuySuCo has no employment for them, that’s the problem.”

Inside of the Parliament chambers, Holder told his colleagues on both sides of the House that since taking office, the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Government has supported GuySuCo with $32 Billion, with a $6.3 Billion allocation in 2018.

Another $2.3 Billion estimated for 2019, he added while noting that capital investment of $12 Billion will be required over the next three years 2018-2020 to ensure that the sugar production targets are met. “Mr. Speaker, despite the magnitude of subsidies there has been no positive impact on the financial state of GuySuCo. The economy simply cannot afford this,” he told the National Assembly.

It was here too that he confirmed that the corporation has commenced the implementation of the plans for the sugar industry as set out in the State Paper. “The plans call for three estates Albion, Blairmont and Uitvlugt to continue with its canes and sugar operations. Skeldon will be divested, Rose Hall, Providence and Enmore are to be divested or diversified and Wales is scheduled for diversification. In this regard a Special Purpose Unit has been set up to handle the divestment/diversification of these estates,” he reminded the House during the on-going budget debates.

At Uitvlugt cane farmers will account for over 50 per cent of the canes supplied to the factory, Minister Holder pointed out, while adding that efforts will be made to increase on this proportion. “With improvements in productivity, cane yields are expected to rise from the current levels of 55 tonnes cane per hectare to 78.43 tons cane per hectare in 2018, a 41 per cent increase. The improvement in yields will see the three remaining estates attaining close to their productivity potential. Sugar production will rise from 115,447 tonnes sugar in 2018 to 145,247 tonnes in 2020, an increase of 26 per cent,” he stated.

Changes
In its quest to counteract the effects of the changes in the EU sugar regime, GuySuCo is aiming to produce plantation white sugar to sell into the local, CARICOM, and USA markets. With other CARICOM sugar producing countries also planning on producing plantation white sugar, the strategy is to displace the importation of refined sugar regionally. The application of a CET on extra regional refined sugar would greatly assist in this regard, Holder posited.

People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Member of Parliament Komal Chand, in making his contributions to the debates, bemoaned the state of the Sugar Industry. He said one cannot ignore the plight faced by the sugar workers at the Wales Estate.

“I cannot refer to sugar without calling attention to the sad situation that the people of Wales face. The budget avoided mention of Wales. It seems that the Administration wants us to forget about the depression and desperation that it created along the West Bank of Demerara,” Chand told his colleagues on both sides of the House.

“All the glorious plans for non-sugar diversification at the Estate location seem to have evaporated and as we meet here, a number of workers who were retained are being let go, compounding further the misery that has gripped the area,” he added.

The PPP MP used the opportunity to object to the State Paper on the Future of the Sugar Industry, contending that it has not received sufficient Parliamentary attention.