Sugar union GAWU has decided not to strike this week over delayed wage negotiations but will instead test the intention of GuySuCo with a request for talks on the Annual Production Incentive (API).
A meeting of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union on Saturday decided against a second strike in two weeks in favour of the API move. The decision came following widespread concerns that a second strike would be further debilitating for a company in severe financial distress. On October 26, GAWU went on a strike for three days over the stalled wage talks. GuySuCo’s position has been that wage talks have to await decisions flowing from the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the sugar industry.
Head of the union, Komal Chand told Stabroek News yesterday that the union will today be formally requesting that GuySuCo agree to API discussions in lieu of the corporation’s “refusal to enter into discussions on wages.”
“We recognize the reluctance, well, their outright refusal to enter into discussion on wages and we don’t think that we should wait much longer to put in our API claim,” Chand said. He added that he expects the API being requested by GAWU will be higher than last year’s incentive payout. “Production is higher this year, if everything goes well, good weather, and we don’t see any estate being unable to reap. Most of them will surpass their targets and that should mean a higher API.”
Last year Chief Labour Officer Charles Ogle was called in to provide conciliation services between GAWU and GuySuCo until a decision was reached to award 4.5 days’ pay for annual production totalling 216,142 tonnes of sugar. In 2013, the API payout was $375M, equivalent to five days’ pay. GAWU had originally sought 6.8 days’ pay and after GuySuCo failed to communicate accordingly workers downed their tools. The annual production for 2013 was 186,807 tonnes of sugar.
Chand told Stabroek News that before the week is out the union expects a reply from the sugar corporation. The union head stated that the API programme is very dear to the hearts of workers and they have defended the incentive from prior moves by the corporation and the government to usher in another scheme. Chand said that the challenging of the API created significant agitation and that any rebuffing now of the API could result in workers acting in their best interests.
“Were they [GuySuCo] to breach the law with the API they would have a full reaction of the workforce. API is always an important matter for workers,” Chand stated.
He noted that generally API negotiations commence closer to the end of the crop however the union decided to go ahead with its claim now as GuySuCo has refused to accede to collective bargaining and adherence to the Trade Union Recognition Act.
Chand also criticised the corporation for impeding production. He said that on Saturday GuySuCo was not prepared for workers at various estates and as a result they showed up with little work to do. He contended that with the Diwali holiday this week the corporation should have been more prepared on Saturday which is generally viewed as the first day of the week in the industry. Chand said that getting the most out of workers on Saturday made sense considering that Sunday tends to be a slower day. He noted however that since the industrial action that ended after three days last month, worker turnout has been poor on some estates as they feel frustrated by GuySuCo’s inability to commence wage talks. Chand said that he foresaw these issues rolling over to next year which could impact the beginning of the 2016 crop.
GAWU’s position has long been that since wage claims were submitted since March the corporation was bound by the law to commence collective bargaining which has occurred annually since 1989. “We have expressed a lot of tolerance. This is the first time we have reached the month of November and we have not started talks,” Chand had stated.
The union is currently asking for a 9% raise in wages. Chand had additionally said that while the findings of the Commis-sion of Inquiry into the industry are extremely relevant, the report should not be the reason for infringing the law.
On Friday, GuySuCo released a statement appealing to workers to not strike. The corporation said that wage talks were premature as a 10-year road map was being devised.
To date the CoI report remains with the Minister of Agriculture who is yet to present it to cabinet and release it publicly. The report was handed over to the Ministry on Monday, October 20, 2015.
