THE Uitvlugt Sugar Estate, on Tuesday, continued grinding operations to keep up with the current demand for sugar despite workers’ strike action.

This was according to Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), Sasenarine Singh, during a telephone interview with the Guyana Chronicle.
The sugar corporation, in a release on Tuesday, said that the estate has a sugar production target of some 10,800 tonnes.

This new production target comes as the estate recently completed successful machinery trials following the installation of a new gearbox which was said to be a critical part of the estate’s operation.

It was noted in the press release that, on Monday, there were some 223 punts of cane which were ready to be crushed.

Singh said that despite the strike action that workers took, the factory was still able to grind over 100 punts of cane.

He said the leadership of the factory met on Monday with the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU) and they came to a clear understanding that the factory would begin grinding on Tuesday morning.

However, on Tuesday morning the management of the estate realised that there was a gathering of workers outside of the factory. Recognising this, the estate activated an emergency plan which saw the estate bringing in a “skeleton” staff. Following the activation of this plan, an additional 137 punts came in on Tuesday.

“We can’t have that cane sitting at a factory for hours because one of the participants in the relationship decided they didn’t want to participate in the programme and they decided to violate the agreement of trust,” Singh said.

With that, he remarked that this emergency plan ensured that all critical stations at the factory were manned throughout the day and as a result, grinding was done. With the plan in place, grinding was expected to continue throughout the night and into today.

The factory, during the first half of the year, was not grinding, so it was crucial for the process to commence as scheduled, to be able to keep up with the current demand for sugar.

Against this backdrop, Singh said that they have been asking for full co-operation from the union as there is one common objective which is to rebuild the sugar industry in Guyana.