GuySuCo has found temporary relief to its cash flow problems and is expected to pay sugar workers their outstanding salaries for this week, on Monday. The company reportedly owes workers about $290 million in wages for the week.
In a press release issued late on Thursday evening, the Sugar Corporation announced that it would be unable to pay its workers their wages for the current week yesterday as is usually done. This was due to the delay in the arrival of a sugar vessel and ongoing cash flow problems with the company, the release said.
The Sugar Corporation said yesterday that “following diligent effort, GuySuCo has indicated that it will be paying wages for this week on Monday December 7, 2009.” This was also communicated to the respective unions which represent workers.
GuySuCo said that it was expecting a ship to lift approximately 10,000 tonnes of sugar last Saturday. However, the ship was delayed off the coast of Africa and is now expected to arrive sometime between next week Friday and Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), the main union for sugar workers, said that it was surprised by GuySuCo’s sudden announcement that it was unable to pay weekly wages as normal. GAWU noted that the delay in the payment of salaries affected approximately 16,000 workers, and noted that this development was a first in the history of the industry.
However, the union said it learnt that the Corporation was able “to borrow close to $200 million to add to its cash at hand to settle this week’s wage bill and that it was prepared to make the payment on Monday. According to the release, this week’s wage bill is said to be approximately $290 million.
GAWU urged the Corporation to ensure that such an occurrence was never repeated, especially in the approaching weeks when the workers like other Guyanese will be celebrating the Christmas and New Years holidays.
In their release on Thursday, GuySuCo said that the situation facing GuySuCo is a reminder of the financial difficulties facing the agency. It referred to the situation as unavoidable due to external factors, but maintained that it continues to focus on the implementation of its turnaround plan.