Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Errol Hanoman, yesterday contended that the countrywide strike called by the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) is deleterious to the industry.

Some 88 per cent of the country’s sugar workers yesterday down tools in support of a call from GAWU following the Corporation’s withdrawal of a wages and salaries negation meeting on Tuesday at the LBI training centre.

Speaking at a press briefing at the National Communication Network (NCN) on Homestretch Avenue, Georgetown, Hanoman said the strikes the Corporation has been experiencing can only serve to derail the industry’s turnaround plan and frighten away its bankers and creditors.

“We must all ask ourselves the question. Is this what we want for the sugar industry in Guyana? Surely, the old adversarial style of industrial relations in the sugar industry is no longer appropriate! It is counter productive and destructive.

“GuySuCo expects that all stakeholders will approach the situation in a sensible manner and that good sense will prevail, as we seek to once again reach out to the union in fostering a professional and cordial relationship for the well being of our workers, the industry and the nation as a whole,” he told reporters.

Hanoman said GuySuCo yesterday took the decision to withdraw from a planned wages and salaries negotiation with the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) at the LBI Estate, after a section of workers downed tools in protest at its wages offer for 2009, among other issues.

He pointed out that the stand-off is clearly against standard industrial relations practices which both parties are full aware of and have subscribed to in the past.

“ It is our understanding that following the principled decision, rather than calling off the strike action so as to facilitate a continuation of the negotiation, GAWU and its members went even further in staging an industry wide strike today (yesterday),” the top GuySuCo official said.

He said that such development could not have come at a more inopportune time, as the current weather pattern is ideal for land rehabilitation and harvesting; moreso, the industry’s turnaround plan is in progress.

Hanoman reported that as of June 2009, over 35 per cent of the industry’s cultivation was uneconomical because of extremely poor yielding.

He said too that rainfall distribution in the past four and a half years has been erratic and well above average in both quantity and distribution, noting that the period 2005 to June 2009 has been the wettest in the past 50 years.

These conditions, he lamented, have seriously jeopardised not only tillage and planting operations, but a significant amount of follow-up work as well.

“The situation facing GuySuCo is grim, as in 2008 the Corporation suffered a loss of $4B and owed its bankers $3B.

“At the end of September 2009, we owed the banks just under $5B and our losses for this year are projected at $2.5B.

“As of December 31, 2008, the amount owed to creditors stood at $2.6B and as of September 30 this year, $1.8B,” Hanoman disclosed.

He said in many parts of the world, given the grave financial situation being experienced by GuySuCo, estates would have been closed with workers made redundant.

Instead, he said GuySuCo has come up with a bold plan to turn the industry around and stressed, without the plan, it would be unlikely the industry would survive the next three years.

The CEO emphasised the GuySuCo board and management are very confident the fortunes of the industry can be reversed with the full implementation of the plan and pointed out that in these circumstances, his team is extremely concerned about the impact the union’s behaviour will have on the Company’s bankers, creditors and customers.

Hanoman said that investment in the next four years to return the industry to viability is estimated at over $45B.

“Further, it is our hope that by 2014, over 40 per cent of our cultivation would be fully mechanised, while the remaining 60 per cent will be semi-mechanised.

The press briefing also had in attendance GuySuCo Chairman, Dr Nanda Gopaul and Finance Controller, Mr. Paul Bhim

Soon after the GuySuCo briefing, GAWU also held a press conference at its Kingston, Georgetown Headquarters to voice its side of the matter.

GAWU General-Secretary Mr. Seepaul Narine said his union views the decision by GuySuCo to withdraw from the wages and salaries negotiation is influenced by ulterior motives.

He reiterated that the strike by the majority of cane harvesters at LBI on October 13, 2009 had no relation to negotiations between GAWU and GuySuCo, a point GAWU President Mr. Komal Chand who was also at the press briefing made earlier.

The workers, Narine said, downed tools to press their demand to obtain an acceptable target for sugar production for their estate, to secure weekly production incentive (WPI) for the week-ending October 17, 2009.

“The Corporation recognising that its target to produce 290,000 tonnes of sugar as stated in the 2009 National Budget is far from realisation, is attempting through its abrupt withdrawal from the negotiations to blame the workers’ strike action/s for the poor performance of the industry again, this year.

As of October 12, 2009, the General-Secretary stated the industry’s production stood at 189,411 tonnes, some 52, 589 tonnes of sugar outstanding to achieve the revised target.

“The remaining quality of canes could be harvested in just seven weeks, at a production of 8,000 tonnes of sugar per week and given the long predictable dry weather during this year, the Corporation recognises that there is a lot of time to have all the canes harvested and, therefore, to exhaust the workers in strikes is seemingly its choice.

“The union detests what it considers this nefarious ploy by the Corporation and seeks that the sugar workers be respected and treated with dignity. The union takes the opportunity, to call upon the Corporation to avail itself to allow the negotiations to resume without further delay under the chairmanship of the Chief Labour Officer.

The Corporation is expected to negotiate in earnest, as the union and the workers do, to arrive at a negotiated settlement.