The GAWU was extremely upset to learn from an article appearing in the February 07, Guyana Times that former, jobless, sugar workers and others who seek to traverse the Skeldon Estate cultivation are being asked to pay a fee. The article, if factual, informs that persons mainly seeking to catch fish or reap wild karela must pay a fee, which in essence, is really taxing them at a time when they are struggling to put food on their tables or to re-sell to make a dollar to possibly send their children to school, or to pay their bills, or meet some other necessity of life.
For our Union, the additional burden being posed by the fee being demanded can be seen as further rubbing salt in the deep wound occasioned by the loss of a large number of jobs in the area and the befalling of hardships on thousands due to the closure of Skeldon Estate. The GAWU is concerned that at a time when monies are already hard to come by, the fee being asked will bring to bear even more pressure. From the article, several persons who were interviewed confirmed the challenges they are facing since the Estate closed its gates over a year ago.
In the meantime, the GAWU has written the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) to express our concern and seek that consideration be given to a waiver of the fee in view of the circumstances that plague the people now-a-days. We hope that our request would be favourably considered to bring at least a little reprieve to the suffering that have become a sad characteristic of life in the villages that are linked to the now closed sugar estates.
