PRESIDENT of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) Komal Chand has promised to launch an investigation into what he believes is the beginning of a smear campaign against him, following a ‘dubious’ article in the Guyana Times on Tuesday, which claimed that workers want him out as president and that he had poorly represented them in the ongoing down-sizing of the sugar industry.

Observers say that the opposition might have been taken aback by the positive meeting between government and the sugar unions on Friday and would make any attempt to minimise its impact on workers by going after Chand, a long-standing executive member of the PPP and veteran trade unionist.

The Guyana Times article quoted anonymous sources claiming that Chand has lost his “zeal” and can no longer serve the interest of the workers. It accused the union leader of accepting that only some retrenched sugar workers would get their full severance at the end of January. The article stated further that workers felt betrayed and were generally upset over Chand’s handling of estate closures and severance payments as union head.

Deliberate attack
Chand is of the view however, that there is a deliberate attack against him. The union leader does not believe that sugar workers called for his resignation and explained that the article itself is “false,” since statements attributed to him were never made. “It’s a lot of false contentions… they used adjectives the workers would never use,” Chand told the Guyana Chronicle. He opined that the article was concocted and vowed to “probe” the matter since according to him, he did have a conversation with a reporter from the Guyana Times, but the topic of his resignation and the alleged claims of poor representation by workers were never discussed.

Since last Friday’s meeting between the government and GAWU, some amount of dissatisfaction had been expressed from the opposition side since it is the view by some that the government may have gotten the best out of the discussions, especially where it is now being said that the GAWU and the opposition party have conceded that the down-sizing of the sugar industry, including the closure of some estates, was necessary.

Following intense pressure by the People’s Progressive Party over the closure of failing sugar estates, party leader Bharrat Jagdeo stated last week that the party has changed its position to support government in getting decent investments for the loss-making industry; a more conciliatory and understanding stance from the hostile and resistant posture previously taken.

The government on the other hand has explained the financial pressure being placed on the state to garner the $2B needed for severance payments. They therefore requested the support of the union in paying out severance in parts. Chand said the government offered to pay all workers who were earning $500,000 and less in full, while those with more than half a million will receive their sums by month-end and then the latter part of the year. “I won’t even ponder on this wicked and malicious act to call for my resignation,” Chand told the Guyana Chronicle.

He said workers have not complained to him and they do not believe that the union has been lax in representation. He said that prior to the meeting with government, all the necessary consultations were had with relevant representatives. He said a delegation of some 10 persons represented GAWU at the meeting, while the National Association of Agricultural Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) may have had seven persons. Chand said all representatives were well informed and refuses to take blame for the outcome of last Friday’s meeting.

Utterly false
Meanwhile, in a statement GAWU debunked some of the contentions made in the article, one of which posits that the union agreed with the government to partially settle some 4,000-odd workers severance payments. “This is completely and utterly fallacious. When the matter was raised by the government, both GAWU and NAACIE reiterated that severance payments should be settled in full to all workers at once, as it set out in the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act (TESPA).

It would not only be cynical, but utterly foolish, for us to do otherwise. But further than that we disagreed with the Finance Minister’s arguments that should the full payment be made, it would fuel inflation and result in depreciation of the Guyana dollar. We also pointed out to the Government’s delegation that the workers had an expectation to receive their payments and which expectations were fortified by the public comments of the Agriculture Minister, among others.”

According to GAWU certainly, “Had we reached such an agreement, both the GAWU and the government would have undoubtedly made such announcement in our respective media statements. Even the Minister of Finance Winston Jordan, speaking in the National Assembly on January 19, 2018 with respect to the supplementary paper, informed the House that GAWU and NAACIE did not agree to the partial settlement of the severance payment to the redundant sugar workers. It is disappointing that despite this wide body of evidence and knowing of GAWU’s consistent view on this matter that some persons have chosen to engage in a campaign of misinformation.”

The article also says “GAWU should have been fighting for estates to remain open”. “We find this statement strange as all and sundry have known about the sustained battle we have waged in the streets, in the media, even in the Judiciary to see that the estates remain opened. Even after the closure at the end of 2017, our union maintained that the estates should be re-opened. This is a matter we also reiterated to the government during our meeting. Again, we must say the proof is in the pudding,” the union said in its statement.

The article also states that Chand “presided over the firing of thousands of workers.” This statement is unbelievable and clearly distorted. It is incredulous to make such an assertion and it makes one wonder about the real motivation and purpose of such a distortion. At no time was the GAWU involved in firing any worker.

Our involvement was limited to the procedure outlined by TESPA, something we were forced to take GuySuCo to court on, whereby a union representative was present at engagements between GuySuCo and the identified redundant workers. During that process, GuySuCo explained its obligations to each redundant worker and verified their years of service among other critical information. That was the beginning and end of our involvement, which was congruent to the provisions of TESPA.”

“Those who chose to level such inaccurate remarks at our union and its leaders maybe are unaware of our organisation’s modus operandi. Certainly, had they been aware they would have known that GAWU has a position that the workers must be involved and are consulted. The union’s Executive Committee and General Council are kept abreast and these bodies would consider and approve decisions regarding the GAWU’s approach and tactics. In fact, our union had a nine-person delegation engaging the government.

That delegation included workers from the now closed sugar estates. Despite the disparaging remarks, the GAWU is proud of the struggle we have waged and will continue to wage in defence of the workers’ rights and livelihoods,” GAWU stated.