The two unions are seeking severance pay for the workers after the sugar corporation decided to discontinue cultivation at Diamond, on the East Bank of Demerara, in favour of other places and the workers had been transferred to the La Bonne Intention (LBI) Estate.
General Secretary of GAWU Seepaul Narine told Stabroek News last evening that the union and its sister NAACIE met with GuySuCo’s representative Francis Caryl yesterday and the sugar corporation maintains that it “does not agree with our submission that the two locations (LBI and Diamond) are separate.” He said that having closed Diamond, the workers stationed there became redundant but GuySuCo maintains that they are part of the LBI workforce. Narine stated that GuySuCo plans to put its position in writing, following yesterday’s meeting and the next step is likely to be conciliatory talks with the Labour Ministry.
In 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 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 party’s statement and according to the corporation, the company possesses a well thought-out plan to return it 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.
