GuySuCo has rejected a recommendation from the Chief Labour Officer that a suspended Skeldon estate worker be reinstated with full pay and this has angered the main sugar union, GAWU.
Stephen Daniels had last month been dismissed by the management of Skeldon estate following an altercation with its manager. His dismissal sparked a strike by workers and other upheaval including the burning of cane. Following several days of talks it was agreed that the dismissal would be changed to suspension without pay pending conciliation talks. Those talks led to recommendations by the Chief Labour Officer Charles Ogle that Daniels be reinstated with pay but this has been rejected by GuySuCo.
GuySuCo’s Industrial Relations Officer, Deodat Sukhu told Stabroek News that the state- owned corporation wrote the Labour Ministry yesterday stating that it did not find the Chief Labour Officer’s recommendations acceptable.
Sukhu said that GuySuCo was prepared to reconvene conciliation meetings on either Tuesday or Wednesday with the union under the auspices of the Ministry of Labour. If conciliation fails, the process would move to arbitration.
Sukhu told Stabroek News that the sugar company took over two weeks to respond to the Ministry of Labour because it was not provided with copies of the presentation of the second conciliation meeting on October 1. He said that if the Labour Ministry had provided a copy of the presentation GuySuCo would have been in a better position to provide quicker feedback.
Sukhu said that GuySuCo was committed to bringing the issue to a close, but when asked by the Stabroek News why the sugar corporation has not agreed to the CLO’s recommendations, he said that more discussions were needed. He said that it was in the hands of the ministry to now provide feedback and to set a date to meet.
Head of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), Komal Chand told Stabroek News yesterday that it was ridiculous that GuySuCo wanted more time to be given to this issue. He said that it was the union’s wish to have a meeting with the ministry as soon as possible now that GuySuCo has finally responded to the CLO’s recommendations.
“They took two weeks to provide a response…summon both parties urgently,” Chand stated. He said that summoning the matter before the ministry meant that the ministry would pronounce the matter deadlocked and arbitration could commence.
He said that it was “a bit absurd that the penalty, suspension was applied, one cannot be suspended indefinitely…and there was no logical timeframe given,” for Daniels’ suspension. He said that GuySuCo was following “no logical framework” in terms of industrial relations.
Chand told Stabroek News that GuySuCo was “not treating the matter with the level of importance,” continuing that workers were “peeved…They should treat the matter with the necessary importance as they ought to. It is showing how GuySuCo could just be callous and they don’t care a damn you can imagine so many other matters they treat like this. This is why workers have to resort to strike.”
The head of GAWU noted that Ogle’s recommendations were “extremely straightforward, he recommended that the man be reinstated and that the period that he was suspended be paid.”
Prior to receiving notification that GuySuCo had rejected the Ministry’s recommendations, Chand stated that “workers will be forced to take strike action again… they will be forced by GuySuCo’s callous attitude.”
Facilitated by the ministry, GuySuCo and GAWU have been engaged in conciliation meetings following the five-day strike at the Skeldon estate. Daniels and the manager had been involved in a verbal and physical altercation which resulted in Daniels being dismissed the following day, September 20.
In solidarity, workers went on strike for five days including those from other estates. On September 25 both parties agreed to the Terms of Resumption that would end the strike which included Daniels being placed on suspension.
Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday, Daniels was hopeful that he will be reinstated as he has been without a job for almost five weeks. He stated that he was also hoping that the CLO’s recommendation that he be paid for his suspension be approved and adhered to.
