The GAWU has seen a GuySuCo press statement, which appeared in the May 31 Guyana Chronicle and Guyana Times, concerning the protests at Uitvlugt Estate.
The Corporation claimed that is appalled but we are equally, if not more, aghast by the sugar company’s statement. True to form, the GuySuCo has criticized our Union for standing with the workers. It appears that the company is seeking for us to abandon our members when they are facing adversity and difficult at the workplace. We thought, given our more than 40-year relationship with the Corporation, the Management would know by now that the Union will continue to provide principled leadership and guidance and will defend our members and workers generally.
It is disheartening for the Corporation to claim that the workers actions commenced without adherence to the Collective Labour Agreement. It appeared that the GuySuCo has dismissed or wilfully ignored that soon after the commencement of the out-of-crop, our Union, at the local level, engaged the estate hierarchy and some consensus was reached. Subsequently, there was apparently a change of heart by the GuySuCo and it sought to impose its will without consulting the workers or re-engaging the Union as was initially done. To now seek to chastise the Union and the workers is misleading, at the very least.
The Corporation also apparently is critical of the workers decision to seek to protect themselves and their families from the COVID-19 virus. In its missive, GuySuCo speaks about production being interrupted but yet it fails to disclose that the cessation came against the backdrop of workers merely seeking to avoid contracting the coronavirus. Certainly given all we have read and heard, the workers had every right to protect their health and well-being. On this score too, the Corporation did not say that it engaged the Union on the matter and agreed to the cessation of operations for some period. Now to engage in an obtuse obfuscation of the facts is disturbing.
The GuySuCo touches on the thousands of Guyanese who depend on the sugar industry. It is saddening that it didn’t have this epiphany earlier. Had that been the case, it may have avoided the axing of some 7,000 workers and the hardships that have befallen the tens of thousands more who depended on them. To this end, the Corporation needs not seek to remind us of the importance of sugar, we know this all too well and it explains our stance regarding the sustenance of the industry. Of course, as we have maintained, the success of the industry cannot ignore the concerns and plight of its workers who play a key role.
Taking into account the foregoing, we find it most bothersome that the GuySuCo would seek to point fingers that we are seeking to jeopardize its maintenance programme. On the contrary, we are supportive but, at the same time, we hope that the advancement of the programme must take cognizance of today’s realities. They very much go hand-in-hand and, therefore, cannot be flippantly ignored.
The Corporation is charging that workers work period ends at 16:00h. It fails to mention though that it demanded the workers be organized into two (2) shifts, the latter of which would conclude some hours after the national curfew commences. Regarding the employees request to be organized into two (2) 5-hour shifts, the Corporation failed to indicate that this practice is embraced in other areas of its operations at the very estate. We are supportive of that policy by the GuySuCo as it minimizes the number of persons present at any one time and thus, in effect, promotes adequate social distancing. We ask what is so wrong with the factory workers demanding similar measures. Moreover, the GuySuCo also has not indicated that the workers themselves have indicated they are opened to other suggestions to bring about an amicable agreement. While the workers remain open-minded, the GuySuCo has closed its mind, ears and eyes to any rational suggestion or sober discussions.
The GuySuCo also speaks to the high level of mechanical breakdowns the Uitvlugt factory has recorded while again criticizing the workers and the Union. On this matter, the GAWU, on many occasions, have expressed its concern about the functioning of the Corporation’s factories. It is to the credit of the very workers, the Corporation is now disparaging, that they have kept the operations running in spite of the very difficulties they have had to contend with. We are hopeful that the factory maladies, which have plagued the estate for a few crops now, can be resolved but this must be done in an environment whereby workers can be safe.
The Corporation touts its COVID-19 policy which we welcome, at the same time, the workers apprehensions cannot be disregarded especially when account is taken of the many asymptomatic COVID-19 cases which have been detected locally. At this time, the GAWU seeks, once more, that better sense prevails and that the workers concerns attract an open-minded approach. We believe, this will be helpful as we move forward in these unusual times.
