IAC condemns Govt over firing of hundreds of sugar workers

The Indian Action Committee (IAC) has come out in strong condemnation of the mass termination of sugar workers, without any relief plan, saying this is “disastrous”.
The Committee recalled that in a press statement issued in March 2017, it expressed the organisation’s extreme concerns regarding the distressed state of the sugar industry in Guyana, especially in light of the anxieties oppressing the minds of thousands of sugar workers whose livelihoods were seen to be in jeopardy as rumours of the closure of a number of sugar estates permeated the society.
The IAC said that, eight months later, it has witnessed and is continuing to witness the despair of workers of Wales, Enmore, Rose Hall and Skeldon sugar estates, all of which have been closed after March 2017.
The IAC, in anticipation of the severe economic problems that would beset thousands of unemployed sugar workers, urged the Government of Guyana to pay those workers – who would become unemployed due to estate closure – their severance which is due to them by law; to retrain these unemployed workers using monies that would otherwise have been used to upkeep these now closed estates; and to transfer a portion of lands of these estates to the unemployed workers so that they could make a new start in life and independently seek their own economic wellbeing.
The IAC said it recognises the National Budget 2018 as being the largest in the history of the country and is confident that monies can be found to ensure that these thousands of dislocated sugar workers do not suffer any extended period of economic deprivation with the negative consequences for individuals, families, and society as a whole that come with these extreme circumstances.
The IAC believes the time has come for Government and the company to set out in clear language what they plan to do to safeguard the livelihoods of the workers and the communities.
The IAC wishes to remind the Government that when the bauxite industry was in crisis prior to the arrival of RUSAL and BOSAI, the then Government with financial support from the European Union established LEAP (Linden Economic Advancement Programme) to support Linden and the rest of Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) in those depressed times of economic despair; the organisation is calling upon the coalition Government to establish a similar entity to deal with the sugar industry in its current crisis.
The IAC, in conclusion, is adamant that if the coalition Government goes ahead and privatises a number of the sugar estates, that through some remedial plan for the workers of the industry and other beneficiaries, they have a viable option to benefit from the divestment of GuySuCo.