The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) yesterday upheld rulings by the local courts to dismiss an application by the sugar workers’ unions to quash a decision to sever over 4,000 workers and close the Rose Hall and Enmore sugar estates last year.
In a judgment published on its website, the court found that the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) were adequately consulted before the government’s decision to close the sugar estates on December 29th, 2017.
It further held that the consultation process, although not perfect, did meet the minimum requirements for meaningful consultation, although it disagreed with a High Court ruling that the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the state of the sugar industry formed part of the consultation.