The reality is they were being subsidized for over a decade now. That is how long this industry has been under performing and needing supplemental funds.
The government maintain that sugar is here to stay. It may not be in the form it is in but the commitment to the 11 to 15 thousand families who directly depend on it is to ensure they fit in and can make a livable wage in the new organization.
The Present subsidy and building castles in the sky in hope the industry magically return to robust profitability is wishful thinking. The new plan may even involve decommissioning the crippled Skeldon plant. It does not produce sugar at viable market prices. It is a dud.
The Sugar workers are understanding exactly what bauxite workers know. When an industry collapse, changes are inevitable. The sugar workers toiling in the fields at a futile task will have to accept, the rest of the nation cannot continue to carry them and the dead weight sugar industry on their backs. It has been a leech on them for over a decade now.
How it will change, I do not know. It is grangers burden.