For the first time since 2014, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) has successfully negotiated a pay increase for Field Foremen/ Fore-women in the sugar industry.
The agreement was signed with the Guyana Sugar Cor-poration Inc (GuySuCo) last Friday.
In a press release, GAWU said that the increases range from three to four percent, depending on the status of the worker at the time of employment.
The union explained that in July of last year, GuySuCo made the decision to eliminate the posts of Field Chargehand and Field Supervisor, and to have the responsibilities associated with those jobs be assigned to the Foremen/Forewomen and the Field Superintendent.
“GuySuCo contended that the changes would streamline operations and promote greater accountability. Arising from the new responsibilities to the foremen/forewomen – who are represented by the GAWU – a new job description was developed to take account of the new circumstances. The new job description was examined by the joint GAWU/GuySuCo Job Evaluation Committee in August, 2018. That evaluation which was conducted within the framework of the Hay Methodology, which the Corporation has been employing for some years now, recognised the need for the workers concerned to benefit from additional payments on account of their new responsibilities, the release stated.
It went on to say that the union, following the evaluation, reached out to GuySuCo through correspondence, seeking to have the Corporation implement the findings of the committee. Their efforts bore fruit last week, when GuySuCo engaged them and proposed the increases.
“At that meeting, the GuySuCo proposed increasing the starting rate of foremen/forewomen by three per cent to $102,484 monthly. GuySuCo, through its submission, proposed that those Field Charge hands who were promoted to foremen/forewomen following the elimination of that job, be paid a three per cent increase once their extant salaries were below the new minimum pay level. Those workers who were incumbent foremen/forewomen, at the time of the changes, will benefit from a four per cent pay rise,” it was explained.
The proposals were taken to the workers, who agreed to the rates. According to GAWU, now that the agreement has been signed, workers will soon benefit from the new rates of pay, and will receive payments retroactively to July, last year, when the changes were made.
“This is the first time, since 2014, that the Union and the GuySuCo have approved an improvement in pay increase for sugar workers. While heartened by this development, it did not escape our attention, that for the thousands of sugar workers, their rates-of-pay have remained the same for the past five years. The GAWU cannot help but be dismayed by this situation especially recognising the hard work and dedicated efforts of the sugar workers who have continued to make a positive contribution to the industry. In the meantime, we continue to encourage the company and the authorities to address this shameful situation,” the release ended.
