The Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) has declared that the government’s promises to pay dismissed sugar worker severance in two installments is “not good enough,” and that the failure to budget for the payouts is a worrying sign of intensified attacks on workers’ rights.
In a press statement yesterday, GTUC called for sobriety and integrity to guide decision-making on the sugar industry’s future, while saying that poor budgetary allocation on the matter is indicative that “no premium has been placed on the concerns of the workers.”
Minister of State Joseph Harmon disclosed on Friday that only $500 million was allocated by the government in the 2018 national budget for severance payments for sugar workers when roughly $5 billion is needed.
According to the GTUC, government