Dear Editor,
The Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc appreciates your effort to inform your readership and/or viewership in a responsible way of issues and events regarding the sugar industry. However, the corporation finds it necessary to address what appears to be a misconception by some regarding our position on the “Diamond cultivation.”
It is important to note that following the closure of the Diamond factory well over two decades ago, the cultivation was merged with LBI and from that time to now, it has been providing canes to the LBI factory. We are also on record as stating that the LBI factory has been operating well below capacity for some time now, which is largely due to a labour shortage.
Apart from efforts to bring back lands into cultivation closer to the factory, moving our Diamond workers to LBI proper is intended to consolidate our labour force to boost production, the failure of which could precipitate the closure of the LBI factory, as the workforce to ensure a more timely cane supply would decline further.
It is also important to note that the corporation has never denied that part of its plans were to consolidate and expand our East Demerara Estates, including the retirement of the Diamond lands on the East Bank of Demerara. We are on record as stating that the corporation has been engaging the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) regarding the future of our employees attached to the Diamond cultivation. Additionally a committee was set up with members comprising representatives of the corporation and the workers’ unions – GAWU and NAACIE, inclusive of the Diamond workers’ representatives to examine the continued viability of our cultivation in that location.
In debunking any conclusion that the corporation has not been effective in communicating its plans to the workers, it is important to list the number of engagements between the respective parties on the issue at hand:
The Corporation first met the unions on October 2, 2009 where the future of the Diamond cultivation was outlined and where a series of items of information were requested by the unions, which were subsequently provided.
During this meeting, the unions were presented with comprehensive information about the industry’s turnaround plan and its relationship to the Diamond lands. It was here the unions requested that a committee be established to comprehensively assess the factors behind the decision to retire the Diamond lands with which the corporation complied.
The corporation met with both unions on January 12, 2010 where GuySuCo’s turnaround plan was once again discussed. The movement of the Diamond workers to the LBI location, payment of a disturbance allowance and the unions’ request for severance payment along with a visit to look at the entire cultivation were also deliberated on.
On January 15, 2010, a visit was made to the Diamond cultivation by the parties involved.
On January 25, 2010 the corporation again met the workers’ representatives where the outcome of the visit on the 15th was discussed. The unions repeated their request for severance payment, but that was turned down by the corporation. The unions urged the corporation not to give up the Diamond lands and the corporation maintained that the urbanization of the area will force it to discontinue growing canes at the Diamond location.
On January 29, 2010, the GuySuCo Board of Directors met with both GAWU and NAACIE, where the award of API for 2009 and the impending retirement of the Diamond cultivation were discussed.
Meetings between the parties continued on February 9, March 5 and 17; during this period on March 16, 2010 another visit was made to the entire Diamond location and at the proposed expansion site at Enmore.
At their last meeting on March 17, 2010, the unions did not voice an objection to our plans, as the wisdom in our decision was clear, and they tacitly indicated that they will not object to GuySuCo’s expansion at the East Demerara Estates, which was contingent on the retirement of the Diamond lands.
During that meeting, the parties agreed to meet again on April 15, 2010 to examine the recommendations.
The work of the committee was also delayed pending a position paper that should have been submitted by the unions, which the committee is still awaiting.
Based on what is outlined above, any individual suggesting that the corporation should interact directly with workers on the issue, must take into account that the unions are the workers’ elected representatives and the corporation has always respected this and acted accordingly, lest it be accused of attempting to undermine the unions. It is out of a sense of responsibility and professionalism that the corporation had not initially sought to engage in discussions over the Diamond cultivation in the media, but rather with the workers representatives – the unions.
With regard to the issue of the retirement of the Diamond lands, careful consideration was taken of the many factors which now hinder cane production in the area and renders it very uneconomical. To begin with, the land is gravity drained, but there are many constraints due to the network of housing schemes, squatting on the drainage reserves and the extensive road networks where undersized drainage culverts have been installed.
The challenges posed by urbanization on the East Bank of Demerara, the Haags Bosch landfill site, the increase in commercial activities and institutions such as hospital, hotels, stadium, banks among other businesses, and plans for other developments all jeopardize our cane-farming operations, which include the use of aircraft for chemical weed control, supplementary fertilizers and cane ripener, not to mention the burning of canes prior to harvesting.
Additionally, the maintenance of the extensive drainage and road networks passing through several miles of already abandoned lands, including the much talked about link canal and the transport of essential materials to the Diamond cultivation would further exacerbate the problem.
It is also a falsehood that the Diamond cultivation is the highest yielding on the East Demerara Estates, as can be observed when a number of blocks had to be abandoned several crops ago due to poor drainage (see above), etc.
The lands which are being reclaimed in close proximity to the sugar factories at Enmore and LBI are also easy to empolder, with less heavy vegetation and will require minimum tillage operations.
With regard to the claims put forward by the workers on strike recently as to their reasons which necessitated severance, a section of the workers alleged that there was no work available for them at the LBI Estate when they arrived there. However, they did not include the fact that because of the dry weather and a lack of water, shovel men to dig drains were not required. Instead, they were offered suitable alternative work.
There were also claims that many of the Diamond workers numbering over 400 were living great distances from the location and as such the extra journey from Diamond to LBI would cause them great distress. The corporation confirmed that out of this figure only a small number either live beyond Friendship or travel from across the Demerara River, while the majority of the workers live between Eccles and Diamond. Also, for the extra time involved in travelling from Diamond to LBI the workers are provided with a disturbance allowance.
Allegations by some over the fate of field workers who were attached to the Leonora Estate when the factory was closed in 1985, could not be further from the truth. The corporation has already stated that it has never denied anyone severance when it was rightly due, but it is clear that based on the facts above, that this is not an option.
In concluding, one should recall that a number of allegations by the unions were made a few months ago, particularly during the 2009 wages and salaries negotiations, insinuating that GuySuCo had plans to cut its workforce and put workers on the breadline, to which they took umbrage, and as such were accusing management of taking advantage of its workforce.
The corporation was at pains to dispel such allegations and maintained then, as it does now, that it has absolutely no plans to make workers redundant as they are critical to the success of our plans to expand our cultivation and secure the future of the industry for all stakeholders, chiefly the sugar workers themselves.
With this in mind, it is rather puzzling that the corporation is now being pressured to put hundreds of our workers on the breadline.
Yours faithfully,
Mahendra Roopnarine
Senior Communications Officer,
Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc