Workers of the Wales Sugar Estate who were part of another protest march yesterday at Belle West, Canal No 2, West Bank Demerara as they keep up the struggle for government to rethink its decision to close the estate were joined by veteran trade unionist Lincoln Lewis, Head of the TUC.
The workers and family members came out in numbers to show their determination to keep the estate grinding.
They marched through sections of Canal and Belle West behind a pick-up truck that blasted: “Solidarity Forever” and Bob Marley’s: “Stand up for Your Right,” along with tassa drumming.
General Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (TUC), Lewis reminded the workers that “in unity there is strength” and that “we are the people who turn the hands of production.”
He told them that the journey they were on started a long time ago when the previous administration closed the Diamond and LBI sugar estates and the workers had to protest to get what they want.
He said too that: “the politicians would not help you… The politicians from both sides would tell you what to do but GAWU and NAACIE would” be in the struggle with them. “Today we are united for a common cause and that common cause is to protect the jobs of the workers,” Lewis told the gathering, to loud applause.
He said the union represents the workers and it hurt him to read in the papers yesterday that GuySuCo had meetings with the workers about their future and the Guyana Agricultural & General Workers Union (GAWU) was not there to negotiate for them.
He said too that it was improper for the Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder to announce the closure of Wales Estate through a press statement.
According to Lewis, the workers can come up with ideas on how to run Wales and the government can put money into Wales and sustain it for some time.
“The time has come for you to hold hands as workers and rally together,” Lewis said.
Chairman of a committee that was set up to look into the rights of the workers, Gordon Thomas, questioned who was really responsible for the planned closure of Wales because “at one time they saying its GuySuCo’s board and then the president (David Granger) saying it is from cabinet.”
He said they were “not prepared to give up the fight – the battle now begin. We would take the protest to another level and would sit and decide what is the next step.”
He told the gathering: “I know you are disturbed because it (planned closure) can lead to poverty …”
Sampersaud Naik, of the Canal Cane Farmers’ Co-operative Society said that as a little boy and to the third generation, he only knows about cane farming.
He said too that he tried to “map out the area” from where the cane would be transported to Uitvlugt and “it is like a jigsaw puzzle.” He said the cane would have to be loaded in punts and then onto a tractor and trailer.
Another representative, TA Khan said that with the support he had seen, “the battle is not hard…”
The closure, he said, would have a significant impact on the livelihood of residents.
