– victory a silver lining on the dark clouds above workers heads
The sadness of 2018 heightened when a great deal of confusion emerged regarding the severance payments to thousands of workers made jobless by the closure of Skeldon, Rose Hall and East Demerara Estates. Several days went by and there was no announcement by the authorities concerning severance payments to the workers. In the latter days of 2017, Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder, according to the media, had said that sufficient monies were allocated to meet the payments. Following mounting calls by the workers, the Coalition Government later admitted that it hadn’t catered to pay the workers and decided arbitrarily, to pay workers whose payments were in excess of $500,000, half of their entitlements. The GAWU, among others, were critical of the Administration’s decision, and pointed to the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act, which was pellucid that the workers were entitled to full payment at the time of their termination.
Despite the clarity of the Termination Act, the Administration adamantly and foolhardily pressed on and paid workers half of their entitlements, with a commitment to settle the second half by the end of 2018. The approach by the Government, in this case, left a most bitter taste in the workers’ mouths, as they were already jobless and hard-pressed to find new employment. Many of them in fact were forced to utilize their payments to meet their life’s obligations. The workers themselves participated in picketing exercises, calling on the Administration to stop being in the breach and to at last settle the outstanding payments. In June this year, GAWU moved to the High Court, seeking an order compelling the Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc (GuySuCo) to fulfill its lawful obligation to the workers.
The attorneys representing the GuySuCo, maybe recognizing the slippery slope they were on, sought futilely to have the case dismissed. GAWU’s attorney, Anil Nandlall, however, convincingly rebuffed the arguments by the Corporation’s legal representatives. With mounting pressure and maybe as a means to derail the Court proceedings, the Government moved, on October 31 to the National Assembly to secure funds to settle its indebtedness to the workers. The Agriculture Minister, when asked by the Parliamentary Opposition if the funds catered for interest on the outstanding payments, said emphatically that no interest would be paid. During the Parliamentary proceedings on the matter, Minister Holder also could not say when the payments would be made to the workers. Nevertheless, the court matter was decided on November 02, and High Court Judge Fidella Corbin-Lincoln, probably recognizing what took place outside of the Court, ordered that the Corporation pay to the workers 6 per cent interest from the time they were severed to the time of judgment, and 4 per cent interest from the time of judgment until the payment was finally settled. Following the ruling, the Corporation hurriedly settled the matter and paid the workers their entitlements plus interest.
The GAWU is pleased that the workers have received some additional payments and it served to expose the wrongness of the Government’s and GuySuCo’s decision. It also brings some justice to the beleaguered group of workers and can be seen as a silver lining on the dark clouds that hover over their heads.
