…Wales Estate workers included

THE National Assembly on Wednesday evening unanimously approved the sum of $2.4 billion in supplementary funds which will settle the final sum of severance payments to former Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) workers.

This amount was part of a whole sum of $3,051, 000, 000 under the Ministry of Agriculture. Minister of Agriculture Noel Holder said the $2.4B will pay over 4,700 workers. He assured that payments will be made soonest, now that the funds have been approved.

Giving a breakdown of a total of $3 Billion, the minister explained that the sum will meet payments for increased expenditure for the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) in the sum of $600M; this comprises expenditure for D&I works assumed from GUYSUCO $350M and NDIA $250M.

Minister Holder explained that this request is in keeping with the government’s policy for the authority to assume responsibility for the drainage and irrigation duties that were once under the purview of GUYSUCO. Further, he said that the authority has increased operational and maintenance costs of machinery and equipment due to extensive and unplanned works resulting from the prolonged rainy season and 10 additional pieces of machinery, as a result of the court’s decision relative to NDIA versus GUYTRAC.
Since 2015, the coalition government gave the industry some $38Billion in bailout funds, mostly to meet wages and debt repayments.

In February of this year, then Chief Executive Officer (ag), Paul Bhim said, “About 3,700 employees were issued with severance letters and the government had approved the partial payment of the severance of 50 per cent, but there was an adjustment to that because anyone with 500,000 or less was paid in full; so far, 1,400 ex-employees have received their severance in full, with the remainder awaiting the remaining 50 per cent.”
Meanwhile, during a meeting at the Rosehall Primary School on October 14, President David Granger reassured that the government is committed to paying the remaining severance before the end of the year.

“At the beginning of the year, we said that severance would be paid in two parts. One in the first half of the year and the second part in the second half of the year. You received your first part and you will get your second part in the second half of the year. Sugar workers are going to get their severance and I say so. We are not going to deny sugar workers one dollar of their severance pay. We are also going to work with the unions to make sure that the workers who cannot find employment on the estates are given a soft landing, that is, we will try to provide employment opportunities so that nobody has to suffer,” the President had noted.