Re-cleaners’ attached to the Albion Estate in Berbice yesterday held a protest after they were told that they would no longer be offered this type of work.
The workers are contending that they cannot switch to other work at this stage in their careers.
`Re-cleaners’ are charged with removing vegetation and other impediments in estate canals to facilitate drainage and irrigation as well as to allow ingress and egress of cane punts. The union representing the `re-cleaners’, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) in a statement yesterday noted, “For some weeks now the estate is not providing them [workers] with such tasks and they are told to weed.”
According to information gathered, while the workers who work at Albion, Rose Hall, and Port Mourant were hired through the Albion Estate, GuySuCo and the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) would provide funding for `re-cleaners’. However, this has stopped.
According to GAWU, the workers “are confounded by the decision as there are several canals which require attention”. They explained that during the dry spell every effort should be made to clean canals to enhance their drainage capacity in the rainy periods. It also ensures that the cultivation is kept in an acceptable state and prevents the proliferation of weeds and vines in the cane fields.
However, Albion Estate Manager (Ag), Balraj Dhanraj, when contacted yesterday, stated that while `re-cleaning’ is an important aspect, they cannot continue to offer that work at this moment hence they have opted to offer alternative work to the workers to ensure that they remain employed.
The estate manager noted that `re-cleaning’ work may be offered at a later time. He explained that some alternative work offered includes planting, fertilizing, weeding, chemical weed control, and cane harvesting. Some workers from the `re-cleaning’ gang within the Port Mourant Area worked the alternative jobs up to yesterday afternoon.
However, workers from the Rose Hall and Albion estates who were a part of the protest held in front of the Albion Estate yesterday, insisted that they cannot do the alternative work at this stage. Winston Dey, 47, who has been a `re-cleaner’ for 11 years, explained, “Right now it is hard for us… Yesterday I was working [alternative work] and I went in to weed and I had to come to the dispensary because I wasn’t feeling well. It’s very hard because we have to do different kind of work so we are asking for them to give us back our `re-cleaning’ work.”
The workers also argued that their bodies have been trained and accustomed to cleaning the canals as such it would be difficult for them to now suddenly switch to field and other work.
GAWU Berbice Supervisor, Harvey Tombran said that after learning of the situation and meeting with the workers, the estate was contacted and they were informed that NDIA “who used to refund GuySuCo the money paid for the `re-cleaning’ work, they stopped the funding and so this left us in shock because obviously management would be able to know beforehand that the funds are being depleted and there would be no money to pay these workers.”
Tombran argued that the estate needs the canal cleaned to function properly and it is puzzling as to why that activity is being stopped altogether. “These workers are living pay cheques to pay cheques and somebody needs to pay attention to these workers.”
The Union is therefore calling for the workers to be given back their `re-cleaning’ jobs.
