On Tuesday evening the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) in a two-page press statement sought to lash out at the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) on what the company calls “unjustifiable strike actions”.
GAWU is being accused of successfully convincing workers that the sugar company is the enemy which seems to be only in the interest of the Union says GuySuCo.
The Corporation said it is convinced that “GAWU has one single objective, and that is to close the company down, for reasons it does not fully understand.”
According to GuySuCo if the entity is not productive neither the wages nor the benefits of workers can be sustained and employees have to understand that they play a key role in ensuring the sustainability of the Corporation.
GuySuCo further refuted claims by GAWU that attempts were made to have a dialogue with the Corporation by sending numerous correspondences expressing their position on matters concerning the industry.
“As of today, no correspondence was received by GuySuCo from GAWU” says the sugar company.”
GuySuCo said it is of the view that GAWU is not a stakeholder that is seriously interested in the business and the survival of the Corporation and by extension, ensuring its members’ jobs are secured.
“After a poor first crop, enormous efforts were made by the Corporation to ensure a successful Second Crop which commenced two weeks ago. Instead of the Union being supportive and demonstrating that it is a responsible stakeholder; it continues to call strikes left, right and centre for reasons which can be dealt with while the workers continue to perform their duties and earning their wages.”
Though protesting against the merging of the Enmore and La Bonne Intention (LBI) estates, the corporation noted that “discussions on the consolidation of the East Demerara Estate (EDE) started in April 2016 and concluded on August 3, 2016, between the Corporation and GAWU. The Union was represented by the General Secretary along with Shop Stewarts who were present at all of those meetings and concerns raised, were addressed.”
With regards to the employees not receiving a disturbance allowance; GuySuCo said it has an agreement with GAWU that the disturbance allowance is paid when employees are required to leave their home Estate to assist on another Estate. However, in this instance, East Demerara is one Estate, so the disturbance allowance would not be applicable.
The Union has to come to terms with the fact that GuySuCo is a business and has to be managed is the final position of the Corporation.\
“A key point to note is that the Union’s interpretation of normalcy is for all of its requests to be granted; the Corporation considers this to be a threat to its business,” GuySuCo said.
