Cane cutters from Wales Estate that was closed for more than a year ago staged a picketing exercise outside of the Ministry of the Presidency and outside of the High Court today (February 01, 2018). The picketers represent the 350-odd cane cutters who have been made redundant due to an ill-considered and callous closure of the estate and who have been denied their legally-entitled severance payments since the estate was closed in December, 2016. The Wales workers were the first victims of the Government’s heartless plans to minimize, irrationally, the sugar industry and who are being pressured by the state-owned Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc (GuySuCo) to take up work at Uitvlugt Estate, more than 20 miles away from Wales.
GuySuCo’s demand on the workers travelling to Uitvlugt is contrary to the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act (TESPA). The GAWU recognizing the sugar company’s intransigence and in an effort to protect the beleaguered workers’ rights, was forced to take the issue to Court for judicial determination in March, 2017. Dismayingly, despite the importance of the matter and representations by the Union’s Attorney-at-Law, several months have gone by and a date for the hearing is still to be fixed by the High Court.
Separately, in late-July 2017, workers appealed to President David Granger to intervene to have their severance pay matter settled. The workers in their letter to President Granger shared the difficulties they face since the closure of the estate and the challenges they would have going to work at Uitvlugt. The workers committed in their letter to President Granger that should he undertake to have the matter settled they would advise the Union to withdraw its court action. The President responded to the workers in early August, 2017, informing that he had referred the matter to Agriculture Minister, Noel Holder for his attention and that the workers would hear from the Minister. Upsettingly, despite the President’s assurance, Minister Holder never contacted the workers and in early January, 2018 they, once again, wrote to President Granger and have yet to hear from him.
Moreover, Minister Holder informed the National Assembly also on January 19 that no provision has been made for the workers since the matter is engaging the Courts. Though Minister Holder is aware of the workers undertaking to the President to have the matter withdrawn should their request be positively addressed, the Minister, nevertheless, has chosen to keep the pressure on. The workers are at a loss as to the reason to further punish them and in so doing deny them their lawful entitlement.
While GuySuCo claims that the workers are required to assist at Uitvlugt, experience has proven otherwise. For instance, during the 2017 second crop, Uitvlugt’s cane-cutting workforce managed to harvest all of the estate’s cane several weeks before the crop came to an end. In fact, the Uitvlugt cane cutters assisted to harvest canes at East Demerara Estate. From all appearances, there isn’t sufficient work for the Wales cane cutters and, therefore, were they to work at Uitvlugt, apart from the hardships arising from the unconscionable distance, they would not have sufficient work which will severely impact their earnings and obviously their standard-of-living.
For the GAWU, it is disheartening to recognise the clearly discriminatory treatment that has been meted out to this group of displaced workers who are being denied their severance pay though the law is clearly on their side. The sad situation has been prolonged for too long and our Union joins with the distressed workers and their families to demand that GuySuCo honour its obligations to them.
