WITH chants of “Wage increase, no money, no work”, sugar workers from Albion, Blairmont and Uitvlugt estates, on Tuesday, gathered outside of the Ministry of the Presidency, Vlissengen Road, to express their dismay on how they are being treated.

Some of the placards read: “Government shifting blame, end wage freeze now”, “Why the coalition discriminating”, “Mr. Granger what happened to our petition”, and “2014 wages with 2020 prices can’t work.”

Speaking to reporters, Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU), General-Secretary, Seepaul Narine, expressed his disappointment with how the sugar workers are being treated.

He explained that the sugar workers remained the only group of workers under the State to have not gotten any improvement in pay since the current government took office in May, 2015.

“Though there are several credible and rational bases for the Granger Government to assist the workers, the APNU+AFC has turned their backs and closed their eyes and ears to the cries and calls of the nation’s sugar workers,” he said.

He said the workers cannot comprehend why they are being treated as outcasts seemingly undeserving of the protection of the State, which is their ultimate employer.

“With no pay improvements, coupled with disregarding of long-standing benefits have caused the workers’ lot to steadily deteriorate. Also, there is the additional problem of reduced cropping weeks which have further affected their earnings,” the GAWU general-secretary said.

He continued: “This painful reality could not have come at a worse time as today when the cost-of-living rose astronomically. The Bureau of Statistics, advises, that the cost of food rose by nearly 18 per cent between December 2015 and October, 2019.”

Added to that situation, he said was a heavy hike in water rates with fixed-charge customer’s tariffs increasing from $742 per month to $1,950.

“That is a 163 per cent jump. During the intervening period too, the cost of public transportation has risen by as much as 25 per cent in some cases. These have all added up and have pushed sugar workers and their families into a woeful economic plight in recent years,” Narine said.

He said efforts of sugar workers have not translated into the expected success as the industry’s factories are hamstrung and monies available for rehabilitation are held back by the procrastination of the administration.

Narine said GAWU being aware of what is occurring at this time must admit that it has little hope for improved performance in the upcoming crop.

“The union and the workers have heard President Granger saying on the campaign trail his government wants the sugar industry to be profitable. That too is a desire of the workers. But such goals cannot be realised without a motivated and committed workforce,” Narine noted.

He said fairness, equity and justice are needed in the industry.