THE Guyana Agricultural Workers Union’s (GAWU) concerns about increases to workers for 2019 have been settled with a six-month increase, totalling $200M, approved for 2019.
According to a release, this sum is expected to be paid soon.
The announcement was made after Vice-President, Bharrat Jagdeo, on Friday, engaged the General Council of the Guyana Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU); the Chairman of Board of Directors of GuySuCo, Pravinchandra Dave, and GuySuCo’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sasenarine Singh.

The meeting addressed the way forward for the sector and ensuring that the interests of all stakeholders are served.
With increases having been paid to workers for 2020, negotiations for 2021 will be addressed at a later date, the release said.
At the meeting, it was disclosed that GuySuCo’s management has been working with its new Board of Directors on a turnaround plan for the industry.
Further, Vice-President Jagdeo assured them of the government’s support for the sugar industry, given its role in the local economy and other social considerations.
“We are working daily to change the trajectory of the sugar sector,” he said.   According to him, work is also continuing on returning assets to GuySuCo that were disposed of in a less than transparent manner by the former administration and not done in the best interest of the company and workers.
All parties committed to continued engagement, the release concluded.