Wales Estate closure: Field workers given 3-day ultimatum…to choose between Uitvlugt/severance or be ousted

Sugar workers on Monday were given a three-day ultimatum to sign an agreement indicating whether they will opt to receive a severance package from government or be transferred to Uitvlugt Sugar Estate. If the workers do not sign the agreement in the stipulated timeframe, they will be ousted from the Wales Sugar Estate.
The workers of Wales Estate were informed of this during an intense meeting with the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), according to a report in today’s Guyana Times newspaper.
The newspaper said it met with the aggrieved workers yesterday, shortly after the meeting, and they voiced their concerns on the matter.

The workers described the move as most unfair, noting that the timeframe is too short a period to make such a big and important decision.
One worker, Talat Khan, stated that the options proposed by GuySuCo are against labour regulations.
“This decision that they have taken to stop you immediately from work [is] against the labour agreement… you have to give the union one month notice before you can then take [workers] off,” Khan explained.
Khan posited that the workers are likely to stand in unity and refuse to sign the agreement since the sole fight is to convince government to reverse the decision to shut down Wales Estate.
“At this point we’re not contemplating [to] accept severance pay because solely our fight is begging the Government and the President to have this decision revoked because somebody out of GuySuCo is misleading the President and his cabinet [in] making this wrong decision,” he stated.
Another worker, Prem Persaud said he is unsure of what to do. He explained that transportation to and from Wales to Uitvlugt might be a big issue.
Wilbert Damon, a father of five, said he is contemplating the pay-out option since it is in keeping with the best interest of his family.
“I will not go to Uitvlugt because for safety reasons, I got to protect my family because if this Estate close, a lot of things can happen in this area – it’s gonna happen so you got to be home at night with your family,” Damon explained.
The Guyana Times newspaper also reported that, during the meeting, workers explained that employees with long service should be given a signed letter from GuySuCo stating their period of employment so they can receive benefits from the National Insurance Scheme (NIS).
An employee who gave his name as Simon only, stated that he has 33 years of service and wants the authorities to give the assurance that his benefits would be paid.
“What we are asking the Government and the decision-makers of GuySuCo to do is to ensure that before people cross from this Estate to Uitvlugt or on their early pension or severance, that their contribution to NIS be properly taken care of,” he expressed.
Meanwhile, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) was not invited to the meeting and its President Komal Chand expressed utmost disappointment that the union did not get an opportunity to raise the myriad of concerns with the Sugar Corporation.
“GAWU has not been invited to be a participant of these discussions… in previous situations like this the unions were involved along with GuySuCo,” Chand stated, noting that these developments of “non-involvement” is undemocratic.
“This is, I tell you…they are moving in this partisan way, this undemocratic and improper way and yet they hope to draw the cooperation of the workers and the union as they going into the second crop,” Chand commented.
“The union ought to be involved because we would be able to capture and to understand that what the workers have disclosed to GuySuCo be correctly recorded as the workers’ position. Many times we found things that workers have never agreed to [that] GuySuCo said that they agreed to – that’s another dimension why we must be involved,” the veteran Trade Unionist declared.