SCORES of sugar workers protested for wage increases and severance payments outside the Parliament Building on Wednesday, as the 2019 National Budget debate was in progress.

Lining the street with placards illustrating their sentiments and voicing their concerns, the workers called for the government to positively address their issues.

President of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) Komal Chand told the Guyana Chronicle that the workers protesting were from the Albion, Blairmont and Uitvlugt estates and the defunct Wales estate.

According to Chand, the workers gathered to highlight that they have not received increases since 2014 and that some workers are yet to receive their severance payments.

“The fact that the workers from Blairmont stayed away from work today demonstrates how much importance they put to the message that they want to send to the government, to GuySuCo and to the people of Guyana,” Chand explained.

The Blairmont workers specifically bemoaned the lack of an increase, Chand related.

And though the cost of utilities and amenities in Guyana has increased from 2014 to now, the purchasing power of the workers has remained the same, Chand contended.

As such, he said, “They are very passionate about having an increase.”

GAWU’s President also noted that the Wales’ workers– who were retrenched since December 2016– also came out to highlight that they have not received their full severance pay as yet.

To this end however, Justice Fidela Corbin-Lincoln ordered in November that GuySuCo must pay the ex-workers the remaining severance– with interest accumulated– no later that January 15, 2019.

* Her ruling came after government tabled a supplementary budget to the National Assembly for $7.58B in additional funding; some $2.45B of it was designated to pay sugar workers whose services were severed. This was approved by both sides of the House.