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| Although sugar workers at the various estates commenced strike action on Wednesday to emphasise their displeasure at ongoing wage negotiations between the Guyana Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) and the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), workers at the Wales Estate yesterday added a new dimension to their action by protesting against the union.The workers came out in their numbers to accuse the union of unconcern about their wellbeing.According to union representative, Grafton Williams, while the workers at the other estates will continue to strike against GuySuCo, those at Wales are of the view that “if we had a proper union we should not have had the cause to strike for wages against GAWU.”Williams explained that the union is bargaining for less than 15 per cent for the workers while the sugar company seems to be intent on offering a meagre four and a half percent.“We brought this to the attention of the union and they don’t seem to care about our wellbeing. What we have learnt is that the union and the government are one; that is why this is happening to us…,” Williams speculated.He pointed out that when the People’s National Congress was in power the union had a nature of bargaining for 51 or 100 per cent and would even commence strike action almost immediately when negotiations did not go as desired.Williams said that the workers were forced to take their own strike action without the knowledge of the union after it was recognised that the union might be willing to settle for an unsatisfactory package.The union representative said that he is aware that the action being engaged could be detrimental to the operation of the estates since no grinding can be done. He admitted that even if two workers were to strike it could impact the union similarly.“We hope this is an eye-opener…They will know just how serious we are now because we do not intend to go back to work until Saturday (tomorrow). And if they continue their talk and ain’t come up with nothing proper we striking again and it will be very hard to get us back on the job…”Williams said that had the union been strong enough in its negotiation it could have bargained for, and even persuaded GuySuCo to offer a satisfactory package for the hundreds of workers who are now striking.But according to President of the union, Mr Komal Chand, the union is continuing to negotiate with GuySuCo. He said that the union has not exhausted all of its options at the bilateral level.He noted that only if the negotiations reach an impasse will the union consider an alternative mode of negotiation.Chand said that at any one time there are about 48 persons at the bargaining table negotiating on behalf of the more than 1,Air Max Pas Cher Livraison Rapide,800 workers employed by GuySuCo.And though the President expressed some surprise that the workers would opt to strike against the union, he accepted that there would be some mixed views coming from workers.He said that the union will be attempting to get all that it can for the workers even as the various challenges being faced by GuySuCo are taken into consideration.Chand added that while the union has the right to keep representing workers it must operate with some amount of flexibility and compromise.On Wednesday soured wage negotiations between the sugar company and GAWU resulted in the grinding operations of four estates being brought to a standstill by irate workers.A release from GuySuCo said that the workers did not take to the streets but instead just stayed away from work.The grinding operations at La Bonne Intention, Enmore, Rose Hall and Wales Estates were the ones affected.The release noted that the strike is taking place at a time when the conditions are extremely conducive to harvesting.Close to 4,200 tonnes of sugar was made in the first four days of this week and the strike is likely to cause some 650 tonnes of sugar not to be produced, it added.At present, the production for the crop is already 13,000 tonnes behind the original estimate due mainly to the inclement weather experienced in the early part of the crop and low turnout of harvesters on most estates. |
