30 workers of the Amazon Caribbean Guyana Limited (AMCAR) are now jobless after the company which is involved in the processing and exporting Heart of Palm has decided to close it’s Rosignol, West Bank Berbice plant.
The Guyana Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU), which represents the plant employees, said it was stunned by the decision.
The union noted that they were aware of the company complaining about challenges it was encountering but were also conscious that the company’s principals were in contact with the government to address some of the difficulties.
“It was, therefore, shocking when the GAWU learnt that the AMCAR had decided to close its operations at this time,” the release noted.
GAWU said that the news was a “bombshell” for the company’s workers but the union has informed them that AMCAR has several obligations to fulfill in relation to their dismissal in accordance with the Termination of Employment Act and the Severance Pay Act.
The union has since written the company in respect of their obligations and noted that it is hopeful that a response will soon be forthcoming.
AMCAR has been processing and exporting the Barima Heart of Palm and other products since 1986. Heart of Palm is a white vegetable obtained from the center of specific varieties of palm trees.
According to the company’s Facebook page, the Barima palm hearts are a wild resource not cultivated by man but rather are sourced from the top bud or cabbage of the Euterpe Oleracea palm and are a delicacy.
Sounds as though the company was run by short-sighted people in charge. Even if the resource of your production is obtained in the wild, someone failed to see that the palm trees are not an infinite resource. No one seems to realize those trees need to be replaced by planting new ones. Now the company has gone out of business leaving the workers with no job, such as it was. SMH.