– provided 270,000 tonnes of sugar are produced
The Guyana Sugar C o r p o r a t i o n (GuySuCo) has fi-nally proposed a five per-cent across-the-board increase in wages/sala-ries to sugar workers,retroactive to January1, 2010. However, this will be paid only if the company produces at least 270,000 tonnes of sugar this year.If the production falls between 260,000 and 269,000 tonnes, GuySuCo warns, the offer will be reduced to three per cent. More so,should the production drop further to 250,000 tonnes, a one-off, non-sustainable increase of two per cent would be awarded. On Tuesday, GuySuCo announced that it made this offer to the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) in a let-ter to the union’s gen-eral secretary, Seepaul Narine. When contacted, GAWU President Komal tual consultation, since it would have been deemed to be held un-der duress, as Enmore harvesters are still on strike. GuySuCo disclosed it had been hoping to make the offer at the meeting, but “unfortu-nately, a strike by har-vesters at Enmore es-tate, which is in its third consecutive day, over the current wage talks, frustrated the hostingof the meeting”. The corporation hassince noted that there are only six weeks remain-ing before Christmas, and approximately73,000 tonnes of sugarstill have to be produced if it is to achieve the 264,000-tonne target set for 2010. GuySuCo also informed GAWU of a two-week break in op-erations to facilitate the festive season. The industry would continue the second crop of 2010 in the sec-ond week of January2011. During the five years GuySuCo failed to meetits production targets, the reasons have been publicised.However, while the corporation has man-aged to gradually re-duce its indebtedness, the outstanding figure remains substantial. “Repayment of these debts, meeting our wag-es and salaries costs, and maintaining all as-pects of our increased production drive in the field and factory are very much dependent onthe corporation attain-ing a production level of at least 264,000 tonnes sugar for 2010.” Further, GuySuCo reported that a senior GAWU official had in-dicated at a negotia-tion meeting that the canes available this crop, if harvested, could yield at least 270,000 tonnes sugar for the year.“GuySuCo is equally aware that theachievement of 270,000 tonnes is an attainable
Chand acknowledged receipt of the GuySuColetter, and disclosed that a meeting has been planned for Thursday, at which GuySuCo would elaborate on the proposal. Until then, GAWU has to meet with its workers before pub-licly stating its responseto GuySuCo’s proposal.GuySuCo sent the letter to GAWU after the meeting between the two parties, planned forTuesday, was cancelled. Both parties cancelledthe meeting, accordingto GuySuCo, after mu- “It is our hope that both the union and our workers will understand in earnest the reality which currently con-fronts the industry, and(would) reaffirm their commitment to work to-gether with the corpora-tion towards achieving our targets,” GuySuCo indicated. The corporation re-called reiterating its state of indebtedness, caused by low sug-ar production over thepast five years, at all of its meetings with the union in the past weeks. target, provided that all canes are harvest-ed,” the corporation hassince stated. It added that the availability ofcanes in the second croppoints towards a turn-around trend in the sug-ar industry. More so, the corpo-ration maintained its concerns about atten-dance, which for the crop to date is 54 percent. GuySuCo believes that apart from the fre-quent wet periods, poor attendance has been the main reason why pro-duction is lagging.
