GuySuCo has decided to discontinue cultivation at Diamond in favour of other places and the workers are therefore to be relocated. This has been criticised by some stakeholders in the industry.
According to a March 23, 2010 letter addressed to the corporation, and obtained by Stabroek News, the unions are seeking to have some 400 workers attached to the estate provided with severance pay, since “their permanent deployment to work on other locations at distances away would be onerous and inhibit their productivity and earnings.” The unions jointly stated that a cost-cutting measure which they have discussed is the linking of the Diamond, LBI and Enmore plantations, to save on the transportation of canes from Diamond to the two East Coast Demerara estates.
According to the letter, the unions believe that the Diamond estate remains ideally suited for sugar cane cultivation, and according to them, in light of the need to have a vast supply of canes for the production of some 80,000 tonnes of packaged sugar at the Enmore Estate, maintenance of the Diamond Estate, “would save the corporation millions of dollars to occupy new lands which may not be as equally productive.”
The main opposition PNCR, in a recent statement, said that workers of the Diamond Estate may not receive their benefits and entitlements and according to the party, GAWU appears not to be representing the interest of the sugar workers. The party stated that the management of GuySuCo has been “silently scaling down operations” at Diamond, as no maintenance work is being carried out at the estate. The party noted that workers from the East Bank estate are transported daily to the East Coast locations to work.
GuySuCo criticised the statement released by the PNCR and according to the corporation, the company possesses a well thought-out plan to return the company to financial viability, noting that the two unions representing sugar workers have participated in discussions regarding the future of employees of the Diamond estate. GuySuCo noted that all terms and conditions of employment of all the workers of Diamond remain intact and according to the statement, they are compensated for any additional time spent travelling.
The sugar corporation stated that there is a shortage of labour at the East Coast Demerara Estates where the two factories have been working below their respective capacities. According to the corporation, its ultimate plan is to consolidate its workforce for better production at the two estates in order to improve economic fortunes there.
