– as two (2) ex-sugar workers took their lives
The year began on a most inauspicious of notes as news broke that two (2) redundant sugar workers had reached the sad point of taking their lives. At Wales, Ramnarase Bissesar ingested what is said to be gramaxone on December 28, 2017 after he had told his wife that he wasn’t sure how he was going to live since he didn’t get his severance payment and he could not secure even part-time work. At Rose Hall, Joseph Mohabir hung himself in his bedroom on Old Year’s day 2017. He was required to return his motorcycle on December 30, 2017 to Rose Hall Estate and before he ended his life, he visited the storeroom where the cycle was kept twice in the afternoon.
For the GAWU, it was a stark manifestation of the troubles that had entered the minds of workers and their families lives as they contended with a jobless existence. The Union as it has said before and reiterates again, the closure of estates and the joblessness of thousands of workers is something that will linger for some time. It will be something that will be forever etched in their hearts of those who have been affected and, undoubtedly, it will leave an indelible scar and a lasting impression on the communities.
