The GAWU having fully considered the statement of the GuySuCo as it regards its 2020 first crop performance believes that it must offer a response to the Corporation’s sentiments. As we read the statement, we arrived at a conclusion that the Management of the state-owned sugar company hasengaged in wanton disingenuousness as it seeks to attribute another missed sugar target to its thousands of hard-working workers.
The statement, which was widely featured by the media, saw the Corporation announcingthat it managed to produce 79.6 per cent of the crop’s target, falling short by 9,461 tonnes sugar. The GAWU, in a statement more than a month ago, had drawn this sad reality to the nation’s attention. In seeking cover-up its abysmal performance once again, the Corporation resurrected its historical excuse of strikes and has now added COViD-19 circumstances to that list.
The Corporation charged that strikes were responsible for the loss of 2,307 tonnes of sugar and went at great lengths to illustrate the relationship between man-days lost and its equivalence in sugar and cash. The Corporation asserted that strikes accounted for 13,868 man-days were lost. Based on this number, it means that every single worker for a workforce of 8,000 would have struck for 1.7 days during the 18-week crop. This brings into question the credibility of the reported man-days lost.
The GAWU wishes to point out that no worker rationally, wakes up, in the pre-dawn hours, prepares for work and often times takes the arduous journey to cane fields or factories and chooses not to work. Workers protests come in response to unfair conditions of work imposed on them. Undoubtedly, workers would wish to work and earn a fair day’s pay. The attitude of Management to the cries and concerns, we hold, should not be dismissed without fair assessment.
The Corporation, from all appearances, is upset by workers refusal to work during the COVID-19 pandemic. We find this, if indeed accurate, to be most unfortunate. The suspension of operations came after discussions between the GAWU and the GuySuCo at the central level where no lesser than the CEO Dr Harold Davis acknowledged workers concerns and appreciated their apprehensions. To now seek to express critical views in relation to matter is most disturbing.
While the Corporation boldly highlights workers strikes and COVID-19 as causes for a loss of 2,307 tonnes sugar, it remains mum on the 7,154 tonnes that tallies up to the total shortfall of 9,461 tonnes. We also recognized that the company claims it had some 66,000 tonnes of unharvested crop canes and it utilized 12.99 tonnes cane to produce 1 tonne sugar. With this in mind, it means that the unharvested canes could only yield 5,080 tonnes sugar. Using GuySuCo’s numbers, it is clear that cannot account for 2,074 tonnes of sugar to arrive at the total shortfall of 9,461. It seems to us that the Corporation did not have the canes it said it had in the first place.
We saw too the Corporation informing the nation that it produced 1,569 tonnes more molasses than anticipated. This is surprising as the GuySuCo is in the business of sugar production. The reality of higher molasses production goes back to the efficiency of its factories. Clearly, the Corporation’s operational units are not maximizing sugar recoveries and thus lending to greater quantities of molasses. Our Union, of course, is on record expressing concern about the functioning of the industry’s factories.
Clearly what the Corporation is telling the public lacks coherence and logic when examined closely. While it seeks blame the workers for its shortcomings, the reality paints a very different picture. On this score, the GuySuCo, through its statement, did pledge to strengthen its relations with the Union and the workers. While we acknowledge the Corporation’s commitment, we have yet to see this translated into reality. On many occasions, we learn of developments as it regards the industry through the media. For instance, we learnt, through the July 29, 2020 Stabroek News about the industry’s second crop expectations. Usually, our Union would receive a copy of the Corporation’s production memorandum which provides certain details. The Union and the workers, it seems, are treated as outcasts not apparently deserving to be made knowledgeable of what is taking place.
For our part, the GAWU has consistently advocated relations based on mutual trust and respect. In as much as we hold such desires, we are deeply worried given the sentiments and actions that were expressed and displayed by the sugar company. We find it hard to rationalize that, on one hand, the Corporation wants good relations but then on the next hand seeks to malign and ascribe blame to the very workers.
