The main sugar union, GAWU yesterday said that more recent information has shown that the industry’s second crop output will be worse than expected with only Uitvlugt meeting its target.
The union noted that in a statement on October 25 it had estimated that production until week-ending December 20 would see GuySuCo producing 67,653 tonnes sugar out of a 75,843-tonne target. At that time, the union said that it expected that Albion, Blairmont and Uitvlugt would have produced 34,187, 20,450 and 13,016 tonnes sugar respectively. However, in its statement yesterday, GAWU said that recent performances have caused it to review its estimates.
As at November 20, it said that sugar production was as follows:-
GAWU said that GuySuCo has disclosed that Uitvlugt Estate has sufficient canes to produce an additional 500 tonnes of sugar and its target has been revised. Considering the most recent performance, GAWU said that it was now estimating that the industry’s second crop production would reach 60,236 tonnes sugar as follows:-
“We understand that the Corporation is struggling very much with factory problems. At Albion it has been disclosed that this is the factory’s (worst) performance in the longest of time. In fact, the problems at that location are so acute, the Corporation has lost some three … weeks of operations during this crop due to breakdowns. That is some 420 hours of downtime. At the other locations, the situation is not much better with breakdown hours during this crop reaching 122 and 119 at Blairmont and Uitvlugt respectively”, GAWU said.
It added that the situation has been especially hard for the workers as the poor reliability of the factories has seen workers on many days not being offered work.
“This makes a bad situation worse as they have been struggling with the declines in their nominal and real pay. The inability to work every day for them and their family, especially as they approach the year-end season, must be distressing. Now-a-days we are no longer hearing the perennial cries of worker turnout which really were a guise for poor production performances. Indeed, it appears, the chickens have come home to roost”, GAWU said.
The union said that the poor performance also means that canes available to be cut during the second crop cannot be harvested and will have to be reaped during next year. It pointed out that the cutting of canes beyond their maturity is almost a taboo in the industry as those canes tend to experience diminishing returns.
“The performance of the factories, as we have lamented before, brings into question the efficacy of the industry’s factory operations department. That department’s skills, we gathered, has been augmented in recent times as several new recruits were engaged. We hasten to wonder what have been their collective contributions in assuaging the situation and trying to bring some semblance to the difficulties that are being faced at this time”, the union said.
