A majority of the workers attached to the Guyana Sugar Corporation’s (GuySuCo) Blairmont Estate yesterday went on strike to call for an increase in their salaries.
The workers, who have not received any raise of pay since 2014, protested in front of the Blairmont Estate, which was the site of another strike recently over a contentious hire. The continuing industrial action could put even more pressure on GuySuCo, which has already signalled that it is unlikely to meet its target for the current crop.
Bikram Singh, a cane harvester, said that government has responsibility for the sugar industry and it is time it looks at an increase in pay for sugar workers. “Since this administration has taken over sugar, workers [are] being treated like dirt bag. We push aside. Refugees getting better treatment than us at this point of time,” he said.
Singh opined that the cost of living has gone up every year and said that the workers’ 2014 salary is not enough to take care of their families in 2019. “We can’t cope with the cost of living and we are calling on the administration and the president…Whatever this country get should be equally distributed. All of us are workers. We put our heart and hand to build this beautiful country that we live in and today we are treated like this and it’s unfair,” he said.
“We are calling on them to engage us and our union in a meaningful negotiation,” he added.
The workers emphasised that they have not received any raise of pay since 2015 and said that prior to that, they have gotten yearly increases.
Outar Hemraj, 52, who has worked at the estate for over 34 years, said, “This is the baddest period we going through at GuySuCo…For the past [years], we used to get wage increase every year but this period here is the baddest we going through now. We na get raise of pay for the last four years and I don’t think that is fair because all ah we is workers, all ah we contributing to the country.”
Nical Hero, 47, a weeder, said that she believes it is long overdue for workers to receive a wage increase. “GuySuCo workers ain’t counting. All the rest places counting: teachers, nurses, soldiers. Only GuySuCo workers and that is unfair,” she said.
Hero, a mother of seven, stressed, “We have children to go to school, we have bills to pay.”
Another worker, Jaidatt Lowtan, who has been attached to the estate for 28 years, pointed out that senior staff of GuySuCo have large salaries and other benefits while the ordinary workers do not similarly benefit. “Them get every benefit, house allowance, travelling allowance, everything, and the workers nothing,” he said.
Simone Fordyce, a single mother who has worked at the estate for over 11 years, said, “We working so hard, in rain and sun, and we need the increase. We need it because the money lil bit…I get me family to support. I get four children and I living in a rent house. We need we money. I working hard for my honest dollar. The money lil bit and we does got to stretch it to see how far it go so we really need we increase now.”
Meanwhile, Harvey Tombran, the Regional Representative for the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), said that it is very unfortunate that the workers have to strike for a raise in pay when other sectors have benefitted from wage increases.
He recalled that on August 30th, the union submitted a proposal for a 15 per cent increase in wages and salaries. He said that it was a proposal which was done collectively by representatives of all of the functioning estates.
According to him, representatives from every estate and GAWU officials, along with GuySuCo’s CEO Dr Harold Davis Jr, the corporation’s Finance Officer and other officials, were part of the meeting where the proposal was submitted.
He said that GuySuCo’s Finance Officer made a presentation informing them of the “usual” issues including that GuySuCo is in debt and owes the bank and the Guyana Revenue Authority.
However, after asking several questions, the unions’ delegation formed the opinion that “they were going to do the same thing that they’ve been doing for 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, [and] at that point in the time, the delegation started to pin small placards on their shirts one [of] which read, ‘End wage freeze now’ which was appropriate,” Tombran said.
According to Tombran, at no time was the meeting disrupted but nevertheless, GuySuCo’s officials decided to end the meeting. “We indicated that we will continue the negotiation and make our suggestions and listen to them and how we can find a way forward and we pleaded with them to continue the meeting but they decided not to continue the meeting and they left the meeting like that and they have not told us when they will hold another meeting,” he contended.
Placards
However, according to GuySuCo, the meeting was scheduled with both GAWU and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE), at which “the corporation had undertaken to present the corporation’s production, financials and marketing outlook by the Finance Director along with the corporation’s perspectives and plans towards growth and in sustaining the industry by the Chief Executive.”
In a statement, GuySuCo said that their Finance Director was making his presentation when it was observed that the unions’ delegation began to pin placards bearing slogans on the front of their shirts. “The corporation paused its presentation and requested the unions’ leadership to desist from such behaviour and to remind their delegations that the parties ought to be meeting under a cordial and stable environment and not under duress. Further, that the parties should exhibit respect for each other and while one recognised their right to protest, the unions and their delegations should be fully aware that it was not the time and place to do so at a scheduled meeting within the corporation’s premises,” the statement said.
“The corporation’s team, after advising the unions on the criteria to have the meeting continue under a cordial environment, left the room giving the unions time to deliberate and clear the path for normalcy and for the meeting to continue,” it added.
However, upon re-entering the room, the GAWU president informed that he found it difficult to accede to the corporation’s request and advised that the meeting should continue in the interest of the employees with the company, GuySuCo said. He insisted that they were not going to remove the placards and that he saw nothing wrong in continuing the meeting with the unions’ delegations wearing the placards, the statement added.
According to GuySuCo, the unions were advised that their actions had brought the meeting into disrepute “which had led into duress and that the parties cannot be duly engaged under any of those circumstances.
“The unions were again given another chance to remove the placards but again they insisted in being within the corporation’s premises bearing placards and at the same time expecting the corporation’s senior executives to proceed with their respective presentations amid the discord,” the statement said.
GuySuCo further noted that “The corporation, after one hour with no positive movement from the unions, finally advised the unions’ leadership and their respective delegations that their protest and picketing actions during our engagement had brought the meeting to a halt for it was not normal industrial relations practice to be engaging while one party is being held under duress by the other parties. Further, that the actions of the unions and their delegations represented a departure from the spirit and established practices of collective bargaining.”
GuySuCo also claimed that “Due to the disruptive actions aforementioned, the corporation was not given the opportunity to share essential information with the unions and their delegations as it intended on the corporation’s production, financials, marketing outlook, perspectives and plans towards growth and sustainability of the industry.”
Yesterday, Tombran emphasised that sugar workers have financial responsibilities, which include sending their children to school, paying their loans and financing their daily lives, and, as such, an increase is badly needed.
The sugar workers on Thursday evening also held a vigil and protest outside of the Blairmont Estate, while other functioning estates were expected to host vigils last night as well.