Dear Editor,

I WOULD like to bring to the attention of those who are misleading the sugar workers by giving them false information and failed promises yet again, that your tactics for political gains won’t work.

On Wednesday August 16, some sugar workers in Berbice called a strike because they were told by some destructive elements in the opposition (one was seen in a video) that they should be and must demand compensation from GuySuCo for being transferred once again to work at the Rose Hall, Canje Estate.

Those very destructive opposition, uneducated elements forgot or might be pretending not to remember that those very workers were employed by the very estate that they are now being transferred to.

Because of the closure of the said estate by PNC and AFC, many of those very workers opted and agreed to work at Albion and Blairmont Estates, which was facilitated by GuySuCo.
Those workers have to leave their homes much earlier in the morning to work at those estates they are presently working at.
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The Hon. Zulfikar Mustapha, Minister of Agriculture, has announced that the Rose Hall will soon be operational once again. Therefore, GuySuCo has to ensure that those workers who were employed at the said estate return there to work.

I see nothing wrong with this because they will be close to their homes, and more so don’t have to wake early to travel the distance they are traveling on a daily basis.
The strike action which was organised by some destructive opposition elements on Wednesday, has no merit and is an unwanted or uncalled for.

I do not believe GuySuCo should give any compensation to those workers for sending or should I say taking them back to work again at the very estate they were employed at.
Those workers are the very ones who were crying foul when the PNC and AFC government closed the estate, and they wanted to continue working no matter where as long they can be able to provide for their families.

GuySuCo ensured that those workers continued to be employed at different estates, and the company took the burden of also ensuring they provide daily transportation for the workers.
It is my firm belief that GuySuCo has the right to transfer back those very workers to the Rose Hall Estate, where they were previously employed, knowing that the said estate will soon be operational without giving them any form of compensation.

I am calling on the workers to stop listening to and taking advice from those destructive opposition elements because all they wanted to see is an underdeveloped country, and to take bread and butter out of the mouths of you the sugar workers and your families like what they did after the 2015 elections.

Those very uneducated so-called opposition members fail to tell you or remind you the workers that it was the PNC and AFC (as I always say they are both sheltering under APNU name when we all know they are PNC) that sent home thousands of you the sugar workers, taking bread and butter out of the mouth of your children and from your families’ tables.

They fail to remind you the workers that they are the very ones who didn’t think about you and your families’ survival when they were sending you packing, not knowing if you would be employed again or where your next meal would come from to feed your children and family.

Sugar workers don’t allow the opposition to put unwise ideas to you like what they are telling you now to demand compensation for being transferred once again to your previous place of employment.

That is a very senseless idea for a company to compensate you because they are sending you back to your previous location where you were hired to work.
Brothers and sisters in the industry, this is the time for you to work hand-in-hand with GuySuCo to ensure that the Rose Hall Estate goes back to where it was, in terms of producing sugar and creating employment for those who wants to join the industry.

It is clear that the government is trying to ensure that the corporation survives because thousands depend on it for their livelihood.
Stop listening to the so-called uneducated destructive opposition elements that want to see you and your family suffer.
Let’s all work together for a better Guyana as we are all “One Guyana”.

Regards,
Abel Seetaram