Following the end of a three-day strike over delayed wage talks, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) is preparing to meet with the Guyana Sugar Corpora-tion tomorrow although the corporation has not made it pellucid that the meeting will commence the process of collective bargaining.
Head of GAWU Komal Chand told Stabroek News yesterday that the invitation by way of letter addressed to GAWU by GuySuCo’s Chief Industrial Relations Officer, Deodat Sukhu did not state exactly what the meeting would encompass.
He said that the union concluded from the letter that GuySuCo will be open to begin the process of discussing claims submitted since March of this year.
The trade unionist noted that in good faith GAWU was investigating claims by the corporation yesterday in relation to low worker turnout at three Berbice estates, Blairmont, Rose Hall and Albion.
Chand noted that cane harvesters had previously picketed at Rose Hall during the three-day strike over wage increases. He said that the union would be encouraging the workers to go back into the fields while the union and the corporation prepare for their meeting at the Ogle Head Office.
In a press release yesterday GAWU stated that on the table for discussion are GAWU’s proposals for a wage increase for 2015 and possible adjustment to certain fringe benefits. “We are hopeful that these negotiations will bring positive and satisfactory results especially in the context of the exceptional performances of the workers during the crop which resulted in surpassing weekly targets on a number of occasions”, the release said.
GAWU added “in spite of futile attempts to misrepresent the union’s position and even sow some seeds of division, GAWU thinks progress, though modest at this time has been made.”
Agriculture Minister Noel Holder had accused the union of playing politics by striking prior to the findings of the Commis-sion of Inquiry being made public. The minister went as far as stating that the reports reveal sugar workers to be the highest paid in the country.
“They still want to have negotiations on wages before the results of the Commission of Inquiry have been made public. That is political,” Holder told Stabroek News.
“GuySuCo has broken all records over the last few weeks and they are going to meet that target shortly. I think what the union wants to do is to make GuySuCo not meet that target.”
Holder held firm that the strike action was condoned by the opposition PPP of which President of GAWU Chand is a member; he is also a PPP/C Member of Parliament.
Chand has publicly challenged the minister to cite the wages he speaks of. “He must be able to disclose the number and be able to stand by his number,” Chand asserted. He said that sugar workers’ pay was “far below himself and his colleagues” and the union is fighting for the legal rights of sugar workers.
Chand had previously stated that “We have engaged in collective bargaining annually since the restoration of collective bargaining in 1989 to the sugar industry,” adding that the talks have never been postponed this long in the past. For GuySuCo to put off discussions goes against the Collective Labour Agreement and the corporation was now in breach of the Trade Union Recognition Act, according to Chand.
Frustration boiled over after a GAWU General Council meeting on Saturday when the union made the subsequent decision to call for an industry-wide strike commencing Sunday. The strike lasted three days.
