– sugar workers denied pay rise since Coalition took office
As 2018 comes to an end, it is disheartening to register that workers in the sugar industry are being paid rates-of-pay that were adjusted last in 2014. In the over 1,500 day or over 4 year period that has elapsed since the GuySuCo has chosen not to award its employees a pay rise, the workers have had to contend with several new measures. Undoubtedly these impacted on their pockets and well-being. In the period since workers’ pay rates were adjusted, we must point out, according to the Bureau of Statistics, the cost of food, one of the most significant expenditure of workers, has risen by 12.4 per cent. The GAWU also wishes to point out that in intervening period, the cost of medical and personal care has risen by 8.5 per cent.
We recognise from the Corporation’s financial statements between 2014 and 2017, average pay per worker in the sugar industry has declined on average by $284,000. Of course when considering the wages earned by workers represented by GAWU, taking into account the seasonality of their jobs, the loss of benefits and their earnings vis-à-vis other categories of workers in the Corporation, it’s hard not to conclude that the field and factory workers take home pay have recorded even further declines. Undoubtedly, it must be difficult for the workers to look around and see their relatives and friends employed elsewhere benefitting from increases in pay and improved working conditions thus allowing them to be better able to cope with the new realities of life and allow them to move forward in their lives whereas they are worse off than they were four (4) years ago.
It is indeed saddening to note that the Corporation has, in some respect, come full circle from the period of the latter 1980s. At that time, a nearly identical situation presented itself and was only really corrected when workers pay rates aligned themselves with reality. While we do not believe it is wise to live in the past, we also should commit ourselves to avoiding a repeat of our pitfalls. On this score, we recall what former UK Prime Minister, Winston Churchill famously said seventy (70) years ago “Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it”.
