…money to be paid month-end
…$100M set aside as loans for entrepreneurial activities

GOVERNMENT on Wednesday announced that it will be paying some $2B, representing 50 per cent of the severance pay, to all retrenched sugar workers at the end of this month.
“The Government is committed to the welfare of sugar workers and their families. It has estimated for the expenditure of over $2.0B to provide fifty per cent of severance pay due to all redundant workers by the end of January 2018, the remainder being paid in the second half of the year,” said Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo who read a statement prepared by President David Granger.

In the statement, the President said the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) has been in a state of crisis for over 25 years and government has acted “resolutely and responsibly to protect the livelihood of workers, to preserve the viability of rural communities and prevent the further financial depletion of the country’s treasury.”

However, he noted that government, not only his, has struggled to maintain the industry’s viability by engaging international advisory, technical and managerial corporations such as Booker-Tate Ltd., Bosch Projects (PTY) and Global Cane Sugar, between 1992 and 2015; erecting a new factory at Skeldon in the East Berbice-Corentyne Region at a cost of US$ 121M; expending G$48.02B in financial support to the industry since 2011 and G$32B over the past thirty months – at a rate of about one billion dollars a month.

“This Government cannot sustain the sugar industry in its current state. It has had to make difficult choices in order to ensure the industry’s viability,” the President said in his message, while noting that several measures were employed, including the convening of a commission of inquiry into the state of the industry in October 2015; publishing a State Paper on the future of the industry in May 2017; creating a ‘Special Purpose Unit’ to manage the reform of the industry in June 2017.

He reminded that in his address to the 71st Sitting of the National Assembly on November 2, 2017, he reaffirmed that the sugar industry is being consolidated and not being closed.
“We will explore all options…to ensure a viable industry, mindful of its impact on the nation’s rural economy and its residents,” the Head-of-State stated. The Government is committed to making the industry efficient and competitive by consolidating cultivation in East Berbice at Albion, in West Berbice at Blairmont and West Demerara at Uitvlugt. The Corporation will aim at producing 147,000 tonnes annually, preserving three enlarged estates and protecting the jobs of over 11,000 workers. “We embarked on an extensive review of expenditure in every sector to the extent of reducing ministerial budgets in order to find funds to enable sugar workers to receive their severance pay, and earmarked $100M to provide small loans for entrepreneurial activities which could open opportunities for employment after leaving the sugar industry,” the President said.

He reiterated that GUYSUCO is not being dismantled and “It is working actively to ameliorate the impact of retrenchment on workers livelihood. Thus far, Government said it has established an Alternative Livelihood Programme (ALP), aimed at providing support by enabling displaced employees to access available opportunities to function in other fields; embarked on the training of employees to work in new operational fields across the industry in places such as the field workshop and providing services.

Additionally, the President noted that his administration has engaged 500 employees from the West and East Demerara Estates with over 100 of them signalling their willingness to be retrained, in fields such as carpentry, masonry, plumbing, mechanical and electrical works and in small business enterprises. Government, he said, will continue to engage stakeholders such as GUYSUCO, Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) and the workers.

“The Government is cognisant of the invaluable contribution of the sugar industry to the development of Guyana. The Government will continue to work towards returning the reformed sugar industry to profitability and improving the personal income of sugar workers while seeking to provide a good life for current and future generations,” the President’s statement concluded.

However, the announcement by the government was not entirely welcomed by President of GAWU, Komal Chand. Chand in an interview with Guyana Chronicle after the announcement said, “I must say that the full bill is $5B; it is illegal to withhold the workers’ severance pay; the notice has expired on the 29h December, so what they are saying they are paying approximately half at the end of this month (January) and the other half in the latter half of this year. It is unfair.”

He called on government to revisit its position and try to pay out the entire amount. Asked whether he believes government’s decision to pay out $2B as opposed to $5B is as a result of lack of finances, Chand said, “Well, that ought to be part of your consideration when you moved to the closure…what are the implications, what are the requirements?”