Dear Editor,
The GAWU saw media reports regarding responses of officials from the PNC and the AFC in regard to questions posed by the media about the wage freeze imposed on sugar workers since the coalition took office in 2015.
While the responses by the leading officials are not identical, they are very similar. If a person were reading about the state of the sugar industry for the first time, they would no doubt believe the caretaker Government was an angel and had ‘clean hands’. This, of course, we know is really far from the truth.
According to the Stabroek News article, AFC Treasurer, Mr Dominic Gaskin said Government should not be held responsible for the withholding of the pay rises to sugar workers. He is quoted as saying “GuySuCo is governed by a Board of Directors and if that Board of Directors decided that they can give a raise in pay that is entirely within their remit to do so.”
But, as the Stabroek News correctly pointed out, the Board is appointed by the GOVERNMENT and, therefore, a creature of the Administration, it will be guided, obviously, by the instructions and guidance of the Government. What’s interesting is that the GuySuCo Board apparently has leeway to grant increases but other State agencies which can afford to offer pay increases in excess of what is approved for public servants must swallow hook, line and sinker the Government imposed increases.
Why two different yardsticks we wonder? Moreover, we do not believe that the Government, if it is really concerned about the plight of sugar workers, who are their employees, would not engage the Board and other GuySuCo officials in finding a way to provide the workers a pay rise. The apparent fact that this hasn’t been done only confirms further that the Government really doesn’t care about sugar workers and their valid and varied troubles.
Mr Gaskin we did recognise to have said that he felt “…we can all do with a raise in pay but I do not know what sugar workers earn”. Certainly, in our view sugar workers are more than deserving and require a raise in pay. It is sad to know that Mr Gaskin, who occupied a high-ranking Government post, is unaware of what sugar workers earnings look like, we hasten to point out that such information he can probably get by making one call to his colleague, Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder.
Guyana Times featured the PNC’s apparent view on the matter. According to that media entity, the party’s Chairperson, Volda Lawrence, is quoted to say “…all the workers of GuySuCo… they’ve never been left behind…”. It appears the PNC Chairperson did not understand the question as her sentiment is in direct and clear contrast to what the media posed.
The reality is that we are at the threshold of 2020 but sugar workers’ wages are stuck in 2014. Using, Ms Lawrence’s term, the sugar workers have been left behind and far behind for that matter. The Chairperson went on to say “I’m certain that the Board of Directors would have indicated to all management who have the responsibility to speak with the workers within their domain or under their supervision about the future of GuySuCo and what they’re doing presently and what are the objectives in both short-term and long-term”. It seems that Volda Lawrence has not been keenly following the news, though as a high-ranking State official, she ought to be. Was she in sync with the news, her ‘certainty’ as she put it would have been withheld as a meeting to discuss the industry’s long- and short-term strategies was abandoned when the sugar unions used the opportunity to express strongly and forthrightly the crying plight of the sugar workers.
She would also know that the GAWU has been lamenting in the media for many months that its effort to engage the GuySuCo on its future direction has not seen a reciprocal response from the Corporation. While that is important and the Union is still eagerly anticipating it would meet GuySuCo on its direction, it does not negate that sugar workers need a pay rise now and in the future as well. How does Ms Lawrence and clique expect them and their families to survive when they do not enjoy the cushy benefits as she and her colleagues ensconced in the State receive.
While the statements by the coalition officials are recognised and noted, they must be seen for what they really are. Rather than seeking to right the wrong and to bring justice to the sugar workers, they have found a scapegoat in the GuySuCo Board which they had a hand in appointing. It’s an unconvincing excuse coming from two senior political officials in the Administration. Do they really expect sugar workers to accept that excuse? If they are then they must really think the workers are idiots.
The Government and the coalition parties should not behave like they are unspoilt. They have had a major hand in the state of the sugar industry. They have ignored their own Commission of Inquiry report to not close estates. They have closed their minds to the real possibilities for the industry’s successful turnaround. They have, without any credible examination, put 7000 workers on the breadline.
They have disregarded the workers right to severance, an injustice corrected after the court’s intervention. They have borrowed billions in the name of the industry without a real plan and have mortgaged the Guyanese people’s assets to secure the loan. So today, to seek to convince that they really had the sugar workers in heart and in mind is simply to add insult to injury.
Yours faithfully,
Seepaul Narine
General Secretary,
GAWU