The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU) has expressed its displeasure at what it views as a Presidential snub with the Head of State deferring correspondence directly addressed to him on wages to one of his ministers.
According to a GAWU press release, a few hours after it issued a statement on January 14 regarding President David Granger’s non-response to a follow-up letter to enquire about the status of the sugar workers’ petition for a wage increase, the union received a correspondence dated January 13 signed by the President’s secretary.
The President’s secretary advised that the union will hear from the Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder on the matter. “We note with interest that the President chose to reply through his secretary which no doubt, in our view, says a lot about the regard he has for the workers petition.” GAWU also stated that on several occasions, it has pointed to the glaring lack of concern the Coalition Administration has for the sugar industry.
The union said that this was not the first time that correspondence addressed to the President had not been frontally addressed by him but referred to one of his Ministers. “While Mr Granger obviously can decide how to address a matter, our experience has been that matters referred to other Ministers by the President are hardly ever addressed, at least positively. Of course, we believe that the President could have fully addressed the matter as we are aware that he has been presented with proposals from the GuySuCo regarding the pay rise matter. The fact that he has chosen to take the focus away from him is a mouthful in itself.”
GAWU said that it sees little hope of the Minister of Agriculture addressing the matter. It holds this view after observing in the January 14 issue of the Guyana Times that the Minister, from all appearances, has begun to pack up his desk and seems eager to head out the door. In addition, it has also seen seen a GuySuCo report where the CEO has advised the Board that “…the Corporation is working closely with the Minister of Agriculture to arrive at a solution to the Corporation’s cash flow problems and the Corporation was assured that there would be some relief which would stem from discussions with the Ministers of Finance and H.E. the President.” The CEO went on to share the view “…that the Corporation had to do something in order to survive”.
The CEO’s remarks were made since October, 2019 and GAWU states that as far as it is aware, as recent as Christmas Eve 2019, the matter remained unaddressed. It is unsure, at this time, of the present status but, believes that the status quo prevails as the Corporation has yet to re-engage the union added to the fact that the Corporation’s CEO was on leave and out of the jurisdiction.
From GAWU’s perspective, the current caretaker Government of Guyana has no intention of assisting the sugar workers, who have not benefitted from any raise in pay since the Coalition took office. It saddens the union to see the workers being treated with such derision especially when senior actors in the Coalition had promised them not only to preserve their jobs but to approve substantial pay hikes in the region of 20 per cent. However, the union opined, rather than a 20 per cent hike in pay, the workers real and nominal wages, over the period, have probably declined by over 20 per cent as they must contend with reduced benefits, lesser work weeks and massive jumps in the cost-of-living which have heavily impacted them and their family.
GAWU sees the lack of compassion by the APNU+AFC Government as a clear indicator “of the beast we are dealing with,” the release added.
