– GAWU says it’s another false promise
Broken promises surrounding returning the sugar industry to a profitable industry have resurfaced once again, during the A Partnership For National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition manifesto launch for the March 2020 elections.
According to the manifesto, an APNU/AFC coalition GOVERNMENT will secure and preserve the livelihood of some 10,000 sugar workers who are still employed by GuySuCo as it continues its programme of restructuring the industry.
However, this does not sit well with the General Secretary of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), Seepaul Narine, who noted that “this is again false promises,” during an exclusive interview with Guyana Times International.
The Union representative went on to question the party’s plans for preserving the industry, given the fact that consistently in 2013 and 2014, they promised that no sugar estate would be closed, but ended up doing the total opposite.
“How they going preserve when they put out 7000 people and those who are there, they did not give them an increase for five years. It is promises, promises but action speaks louder than words and what they have really done is really to make those people poorer,” Narine added.
Moreover, President Granger stated that he “inherited a moribund industry,” but Narine is contending that the coalition Administration has tossed over 7000 into a financial crisis, instead of making it profitable as it once promised in 2014 and 2015.
“He inherited an industry that had 7000 people more in employment and taking care of so many families. But he has an industry now that he has [driven] those people into poverty. The hardship and the sufferings that the people faced was actually caused by him, but he is not saying that he forgets that.”
Nevertheless, the President stated that his Government has “established a strong East Berbice, West Demerara, and West Berbice sugar industry…three mega estates are working and the jobs of about 10,000 harvesters have been preserved,” after the operations of the La Bonne Intention Estate were amalgamated with those of the Enmore Estate; those at Wales were amalgamated with Uitvlugt, but this claim was fiercely refuted by Narine.
“What he did was to close Wales, close Enmore, close Rose Hall, close Skeldon and he is now saying that he amalgamated them, but if you are going to amalgamated it means you are bringing it to make it bigger in one entity, but what he did was to slash and to amalgamated, if you are amalgamated, two entities becomes a bigger one but that has not happened.” Narine outlined.
Moreover, the unionist stated that “if [the coalition] is re-elected, [they] will close the sugar industry and everyone is seeing that.” Since the only plan they have for the retrenched workers is a State Land Resettlement Commission to “enable former sugar workers to access land for housing and agriculture”.
Given the track record of Government to open these lands, even the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) had referred to the offer as “a fly in the sky. It sounds good but it smells bad,” when it was announced on the campaign trail a few weeks ago.
Also, a few weeks ago, the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Ltd (NICIL) sent out a press statement stating that it has provided ex-sugar workers with lands for farming, but GAWU noted that an investigation revealed that this was not true.
“They said that they will give sugar workers land and they had five years to do it and they put five people in the papers and if you investigate those people they don’t really [have anything]. We tried to find four of them and they are unfounded. There is one man who was given one field of land 13 years ago.”
However, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) stated that they will re-open the closed sugar estates given the fact that so many lives depend on it. (Shemar Alleyne)
