Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU) President Komal Chand says government should find a way to ensure sugar workers are not denied wage increases, following GuySuCo’s decision against awarding pay hikes for last year.
Chand told Stabroek News yesterday that while the sugar corporation has been using its dire financial status as an excuse for not increasing the sugar workers’ salaries, GuySuCo is a government entity and should have ways to increase the wages. “The government is not broke and the government gave all other workers increases. Sugar workers amount to 32% of the government employees and the government is not broke so they ought to ensure that the workers get an increase because they have now been deemed as discriminating against the sugar workers,” Chand added.
Chand said that GuySuCo should have had engaged the union in collective bargaining to address the issue. “That process has not happened. We have not been engaged in any discussion with respect to the claims for the salary raises and any discussion with respect to the other claims that were placed since last year,” Chand said, while adding that the union has always been ready to begin talks with the sugar corporation but he was told many times that it was not in a position to facilitate such talks.
“They have not gone through the procedure and we are holding and insisting that they should do this,” he said, pointing out that while it was related to GAWU that an engagement would be held on the fringe matters, such issues were secondary to the salary increases.
Chand said that while GuySuCo was not in a position to approve an increase, GAWU’s claims required them to have an engagement. “They had to hear from us, what our grounds for seeking an increase are and [what] our justifications were. That is normally the process and our explanation to them why they must give an increase,” Chand said, while adding that they should’ve been given a chance voice their pleas and to try to convince GuySuCo of the need for the increase.
He said that while the union recognises that the industry is in a bad financial state and position, it was in the same position a few years ago and will most likely be in the same position this year. “…Especially this year. Taking into account the prognosis that they will produce 233,000 tonnes is far from realistic because of the long El Nino weather, which might last the latest in June,” he said.
Chand said even though the union has proposed a 9% salary increase, it is not going to stubbornly stick to that figure. “We will always have a number that allows you some bargaining. We had previously asked for a wage hike in the double digits but we put it far below that because you have to take into account many, many factors,” he added.
GuySuCo had announced on Monday that there would be no wage increase for 2015 considering the dire state of the corporation’s finances.
In a statement, it said it met earlier on Monday with representatives of GAWU and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) to discuss the claims submitted on wages and salaries increases for 2015 at La Bonne Intention Estate.
The statement said that the Corporation, through its Finance Director Paul Bhim, detailed the current financial state of the organisation which “depicted a very grim picture, the realities for 2015 and made it clear that there will be no increases in wages and salaries for 2015.”
The Corporation also told the unions of the impact that the El Nino drought will have on the sugar production target for the first crop. The projected figure is 80,270 tonnes for the first crop and the variance is likely to be 12,500 tonnes, the statement said.
“While the unions expressed some disappointment with the position taken by the company, a decision was arrived at for a subsequent meeting to discuss other benefits,” the statement said. The Corporation added that in recent weeks it has been informing employees about its current financial position and the actions being undertaken on the road to recovery.
