Sugar union GAWU yesterday reaffirmed its position that GuySuCo had kept it and sugar workers in the dark about plans to grow rice on the Wales estate and it called for the feasibility study to be made public to determine if the corporation was being “penny-wise and pound-foolish.”
In a statement, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) said that the rice venture that the Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc. (GuySuCo) is undertaking is “worrying” since it comes at a time when world market prices for the grain are uneconomical.
The venture is part of the diversification plan that would follow the planned closure of sugar cultivation at the estate later this year.
The union said that rice cultivation plan “may very well have been ill-considered. Moreover, it is not to be overlooked that contemporary rice cultivation is largely mechanized and thus such a project will only absorb a small fraction of those displaced sugar workers of Wales Estate who may wish to seek re-employment.”
The union said it was indeed surprised to learn through a newspaper advertisement in the state-owned Guyana Chronicle that GuySuCo was seeking to pursue rice cultivation at the Wales Estate.
“We do recall GuySuCo and [g]overnment officials, primarily in media reports, advising that studies concerning rice, citrus crops, aquaculture and dairy production were being [considered]. Apparently, the study with respect to rice must have been completed,” the statement said.
According to GAWU, the corporation met with members on January 20 this year and informed them of its decision to close the estate and that new ventures would be established and promised to update them accordingly.
The union stated that “in spite of that commitment, GuySuCo did not even inform our union or the workers about their plans, much less sharing their ideas and intentions and to solicit” its contribution.
It said too that, “Shunning the workers and the union represents another blunder by the top management of the Corporation and their advisors.”
According to the statement, if there is indeed a report from a study of growing rice at Wales, “it is being treated as highly confidential at this time. The least the union can expect from GuySuCo’s hierarchy is to provide the relevant essential information to its employees, the union and surely, the general public… to be able to determine whether or not this is yet another instance of GuySuCo being penny-wise and pound-foolish.”
The union noted that over two decades ago, the corporation hastily implemented an ‘Other Crops Division,’ of which rice cultivation was featured. That investment was deemed unsustainable and unprofitable and was later abandoned.
The union “maintains the view that the challenges of Wales Estate can be overcome through a knowledgeable management, a motivated work force, and adequate financial support for a limited period.”
It also said that “the projects mooted …we are not convinced that they represent the solution to Wales Estate or an adequate, fully-considered alternative to closure and the serious consequences to workers and farmers that will ensue.”
