Utivlugt sugar workers down tools over stalled pay talks

Some of the sugar workers protesting on Friday morning (GAWU photo)

Frustrated at the delay in wages negotiations between the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and their union, GAWU, employees of the Uitvlugt Estate yesterday downed tools and called for speedy talks on pay increases dating back to 2019.

Despite an interim agreement in early 2020, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) is of the opinion that the pay increase should have been retroactive to 2019 instead of January 2020. 

In 2020, the union had announced that it had reached an interim agreement for sugar workers with GuySuCo under which there would be a 5% rise in salaries, time-rated workers would receive an increase of $20 per hour and monthly-paid staffers would receive an increment of $4,100 per month.