Komal Chand re-elected GAWU president

Veteran trade unionist Komal Chand has been re-elected president of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), the union said in a statement on Monday. GAWU said following the successful conclusion of its 20th Delegates’ Congress on August 28, the 52-member General Council met for the first time on Saturday and elected unanimously the members of the union’s Central Executive Committee.

Jankie Persaud was elected honorary president; Chand, president; Uranie Heeram, vice president; Seepaul Narine, general secretary; Mohamad Ahamad, assistant general secretary; Derek Thakur, organising secretary; Aslim Singh, international affairs secretary; and Rooplall Persaud, treasurer.
The committee members are: Michael Inderdatt, Walter Raghoo, Bevon Sinclair, Harvey Tambron, Abrahim Nagamootoo, Janice Leander-Fowler and Bickram Singh. The union’s general council, which meets once every three months, is the second highest forum of the union after its congress. It manages the affairs of the union between congresses.
The central executive committee meets once monthly and it assists in the management of the affairs of the union. General council members want the board of directors of the sugar corporation and the management of the industry to address especially those agricultural issues, which prevent an annual level of sugar production in keeping with the corporation’s factory capacity and its present human and other resources.
At Saturday’s meeting, members hailed the positive performance of the sugar industry over the past few weeks. Last week, the highest weekly sugar production for months was attained, as the industry declared a production of 9369 tonnes of sugar.
Satisfaction was also expressed by members over the unexpectedly positive performance of the Skeldon factory over the past four weeks, though some crucial remedial work on the factory and its components have not yet been undertaken.
Last week, 2481 tonnes were produced by the Skeldon factory, its best performance since its commissioning in August 2009. Members of the union’s general council committed themselves towards working on the myriad tasks ahead of the union as it grapples with its day-to-day work and challenges.