Workers attached to the Blairmont Estate yesterday interrupted their work to express their dissatisfaction with Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo)’s pay rise offer.
According to a Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU) release, the workers are insisting that any pay increase ought to be retroactive to January, last year. The workers have pointed out that the discussions between GAWU and GuySuCo originated from the union’s 2019 claims.
GAWU sees it fitting to note that agreements arising out of discussions on non-wage matters, which also comprised the union’s claims, saw those improvements being implemented from 2019. So it is therefore puzzling that the corporation with respect to the pay increase is seeking to “deviate” from practice and precedent. “As the union disclosed previously, the sugar company has acknowledged that our discussions regarded 2019 yet it is seeking to implement pay rises from the beginning of this year.”
At both Blairmont and Uitvlugt Estates, workers took part in picketing exercises outside of their respective estates to reiterate their call that their pay increases be no less than 5 per cent and that the pay improvements be retroactive to January 01, 2019.
The union stated that the workers are of the opinion that the corporation and those who give it guidance are seeking to exploit a situation knowing fully well that they and their families require a raise in pay. The workers feel that they are being taken advantage of and contend that this is not helpful, especially, at this time, when the corporation is seeking maximum co-operation from its workforce. Mention was made of a recent GuySuCo statement which says that the situation in the industry requires “…sacrifice by all its stakeholders.” However, the workers are questioning whether they haven’t sacrificed enough already and such sacrifice has so far resulted in their getting “zero”. They have observed that their counterparts in the public sector, using the Government’s numbers, have seen their minimum wage improving by nearly 80 per cent since 2015 while although they have been giving of “their best”, they are told there is nothing for them.
The workers have opined that they are being discriminated against and lamented that while they must seemingly swallow a pay rise from the beginning of this year; their colleagues in other sectors of the state have received their pay rises from the beginning of last year. They added that those workers also received their retroactive payments tax free while such treatment, so far it appears, has not been even considered for them.
GAWU assures that the workers are willing to listen to reasonable proposals from the sugar corporation but at the same time they cannot allow the GuySuCo to effectively “cheat” them out of a year’s retroactive pay.
