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FM
Former Member

Rose Hall Residents, sugar workers unite in massive protest

25
 

Estate closure

Thousands gathered to participate in a march on Tuesday morning to register their concerns about Government and the Guyana Sugar Corporation’s (GuySuCo’s) decision to proceed with closure of the Rose Hall Sugar Estate by this year-end.

The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) which represents the interests of the 2400 sugar workers who stand to be directly affected by the closure of this estate, said the demonstration saw the sugar workers being joined by housewives, business persons, students and pensioners who took part in a spirited march which began in the vicinity of the Rose Hall Estate and headed to the Sheet Anchor Turn, before returning to the estate; a distance of about four miles.

The massive gathering that participate in a march Tuesday morning

Despite the rain, protesters carried a number of placards which read; “Upturn the decision to close Rose Hall Estate”, “We would be sunk into poverty after closure”, “APNU/AFC Govt betray sugar workers”, and “Closure of RH Estate is a political act”.

As workers continue to protest against Government’s decision to close the Estate, more persons and groups which are likely to be affected by the impending closure are joining forces with the workers.

The workers on Tuesday were backed by their two unions – GAWU and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE).

Employees from the Rose Hall, Albion and Enmore estates were joined by hire car operators, members of the business sector, civil society, politicians, social organisations, women and children and they marched from Rose Hall to Cumberland in East Canje and back to Rose Hall, covering a distance of four miles before they were addressed by union representatives and other speakers.

The Rose Hall Estate employs approximately 2400 workers and even at an average of a family of four, about 10,000 persons or 1.4 per cent of the country’s population will be directly affected and impacted by a closure of the estate.

GAWU in a statement said work in the sugar estate is the main avenue of employment, as has been the case for generations in that populous rural community. The closure will leave a vacuum that will not only gravely impact workers but also force businesses and service providers to curtail or end operations, and thus making the bad situation even worse.

GAWU says it recognises that the estate is a major source of sustenance and its closure will be felt deeply and far and wide. “The people are rightly fearful that their tranquil communities would be destroyed, families broken up and they will be increased incidences of crime and other social problems. They are urging the Administration to re-look at their plans which will clearly be a Government-made disaster,” the Union stated.

Meanwhile, Sookram Persaud of the Enmore Estate told the gathering that workers on the East Coast of Demerara are also concerned over what could potentially happen in Berbice.

“It would not be for the sugar workers alone, it would be for the taxi drivers, it will be for the vendors, it would be for everybody in this country…, ” he lamented.

He pointed out that keeping the Rose Hall Estate open will bring benefits to not just one particular ethnic grouping but all Guyanese.

Taking a dig at Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, without calling his name, GAWU’s General Secretary Seepaul Narine said: “This march is a message to ‘Judas’; the man (in Government) who has a biblical name and with a surname with many zeroes (noughts) and he share them out…. 2015, no increase for sugar workers so one of the ‘noughts’ gone. 2016 no increase, another ‘nought’ gone. 2017, so far, no increase, another ‘nought’ gone and then the final one is when he (the Government official) took away the API [Annual Incentive Premium].”

Narine said those who spoke of their connections to the sugar industry and promised that there will be no closure were not lying when they said they were so close to the sugar industry that sugar runs in their blood.

“Well the man is suffering from diabetes and therefore he must have sugar in his blood…. the Vice President who comes from the Corentyne is telling us that we have to close the estate; well let them know that the people of Berbice are saying that we are not going to take it. This is a journey that if it has to lead us to Georgetown, where they are sitting comfortably in their seats, we shall see them there. We shall march and we shall defend our interest. We have to defend the people who depend on sugar,” Narine declared.

Narine told the close to three thousand in attendance that victory is in sight but it can only be achieved if they unite in their ongoing struggle. (Andrew Carmichael)

http://guyanatimesgy.com/resid...-in-massive-protest/

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Indo Guyanes rose up against AFC/PNC racist policies. This is only the beginning.

Liar Moses told them that Rose Hall Estate will not close and Snake Granger is pushing ahead with it's closure.

Will Dead Meat Moses have any Ball* to stand up to Snake Granger ? This is Moses moment to save face.

Will Guyana be divided along racial lines as a result of Granger's PNC racist policies ?

Is this the tip of the iceberg ?

FM
Last edited by Former Member

The people need to fight back, but they have to join forces.  The issues facing the sugar workers or anyone in one area or sector affects everyone.  The people in GT, Ebo, etc need to bring the nation to a stand still until the PNC come to their senses!

I am convinced, Sugar is not loss-making in the larger sense.  This is a means t "skin a cat", achieve ethnic cleansing thru economic deprivation and blame it on altered facts an simplistic justification.

Anyway, that all from me this morn, until tonight!  I need to earn a living!

FM

Sugar workers will stand up to the PNC and need to keep the pressure on them. I can see 20,000 of them headed to parliament, Granger and his racist administration will have to face sugar workers who might even bring the country to a standstill.

It will make international headlines.

FM

When no concrete effort  is being made for the workers after the factory is closed, then  its time for a national strike.

The national strike in the 1960's was effective.  A  strike where those in government are experiencing similar  hardships like the sugar workers, they might come up with a better plan  to look after the workers, or tremendous hardships will be experienced.

I believe sugar should be restructured, but a better plan should be implemented for the workers to transfer  their labour, with no significant loss of income.

It is very disappointing that AFC ministers, who receive large support from Berbice  have remained silent on this issue. They will not be very popular in their home county, especially at the next election.

These people are coasting to a healthy pension and seem to care little for the ordinary person.

Tola

If you listen to the Namakaram Crabdaag anf the drunk Ramjhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatan during campaigning you will know that they are BEASTS of the worst kind. Those PIECES OF RAW SEWAGE are a Cancer to humanity!!!

Nehru
ba$eman posted:

The people need to fight back, but they have to join forces.  .!

And I thought that Indians were these "hard working" people who could survive through all.

At least this was your boast when I had told you that selling Guysuco would result in the same problem that shutting down Guymine did create.

Maybe you all should have joined the bauxite workers when they complained of their plight, but instead your attitude has set a precedent.

FM
Tola posted:

When no concrete effort  is being made for the workers after the factory is closed, then  its time for a national strike.

.

When 80% of the bauxite workers lost their jobs you didn't think that that merited a national strike.

No you screamed "blackman lazy".

Amazing when the shoe is on the other foot how you squeal.

And what evidence do you have that the AFC did well in Berbice in 2015. In fact they didn't . I guess you know that New Amsterdam exists and there are other localities with black populations in Berbice. Take the black/mixed population and this conforms to the APNU/AFC vote.  The PPP won back the votes that they lost in 2011.

FM
Last edited by Former Member
caribny posted:
Tola posted:

When no concrete effort  is being made for the workers after the factory is closed, then  its time for a national strike.

.

When 80% of the bauxite workers lost their jobs you didn't think that that merited a national strike.

No you screamed "blackman lazy".

Amazing when the shoe is on the other foot how you squeal.

Bauxite was lying down on its face during the Hoyte years. The PPP brought Rusal which helped bring back some lost jobs not mention most of the lotto funds went to Linden and zero for PPP strongholds in places like Berbice.  The AFC capitalized on this and stole thousands of votes from those areas.

Billy Ram Balgobin
Billy Ram Balgobin posted:
.
 

Bauxite was lying down on its face during the Hoyte years...

As is sugar now so if selling Guymine made sense so does selling Guysuco. Problem is that sugar is so far gone that no one seems to want it!

Had you all racists sympathized with bauxite workers instead of screaming "black man lazy" maybe you wouldn't have this predicament now. The PPP set a precedent with Guymine and now APNU does the same with Guysuco. 

If Guysuco is so valuable why don't Jagdeo and his friends buy it out? Urge the gov't to sell to them for one dollar the estates that they plan to shut down. They don't because they know that sugar is past its time.

FM

Here is Ralph Ramkarran's view on sugar and bauxite in 2009:

 


As a prelude to the privatization of the sugar industry, the Government of President Desmond Hoyte invited Booker Tate to manage it in the hope of arresting its catastrophic decline during the years of the PNC administration. Then as now the sugar industry employed about 20,000 people and provided a substantial portion of Guyana’s GDP and foreign exchange earnings. The plot to privatize, for which no mandate was sought or given at the 1985 general elections, unraveled when the PPP announced that it will not by bound by any such agreement. As it happened, the PPP won the elections, freely and fairly held for the first time since 1968.
 

 

The professional management of Booker Tate in the 1990s, the quality of which began to decline in the 2000s, saw a dramatic increase in wages and conditions and increased production. With a guaranteed market in Europe and guaranteed prices, a promising future for sugar once again appeared on the horizon. But dark clouds were beginning to gather. The cost of production remained unsustainably high because of low productivity, aging equipment, soil quality, labour issues and other problems. The growth of globalization was beginning to threaten sugar’s protected regime. A decision had to be taken about the future of sugar. 
 
At the opening of the Skeldon Sugar Factory, President Jagdeo said that in considering the options, the Government realized that sugar was too big to fail. The number of families relying on the industry was too large, its contribution to the economy too great. The President said that the option of privatization was ruled out and the only alternative was investment by the State. He pointed out that in the era of neo-liberalism it was tremendously difficult to convince the World Bank to support such a project. Finally, however, the Government prevailed and, the President argued, its wisdom of protecting large industries has been vindicated by the recent policies of industralized countries in protecting industries ‘too big to fail.’ Above all, sugar could be profitable. The Skeldon Factory was designed to produce sugar at US12 cents a pound. The world price is now US22 cents a pound. This might not be sustained over time. But hopefully, the bulk of Guyana’s sugar sold outside of its traditional markets will be sold in added value form at far higher prices than the world market.           
 
Sugar generally, and the Skeldon Sugar Factory in particular, face enormous challenges. The President mentioned several of them. These include the restoration of management capacity and efficiency, the deployment of innovative initiatives to inrease the supply of cane, industrial stability, the development of new products with added value, establishment of downstream industries and more. Sugar, he said, must pay its way and contribute to the national treasury. The opening of the Skeldon Sugar Factory gives hope that despite the daunting challenges, sugar is on its way to even greater heights.  
 
Inevitably, comparison will be made with the Government’s approach to the bauxite industry with the argument that it was not given the same treatment. Opponents refer to the government’s investment in sugar and suggest that its failure to do likewise with bauxite is evidence of unequal treatment and worse, discrimination because of ethnicity. However, unlike sugar, bauxite gradually became unprofitable as the ore on the surface became depleted. The cost of extracting ore lower down in the ground was prohibitive and increased the cost of production to an unsustainable level. At the same time, Chinese ore of less quality and lower prices became more attractive and later took significant market share from Guyana. These problems surfaced much earlier than sugar – from about 1980. 
Much effort and resources were poured into the bauxite industry since then. Restoration effort with World Bank assistance began in 1983 and continued in 1990 but did not work. Minproc, a private manager recommended privatisation in 1993. These were all undertaken during the PNC administration. It was not until much later, and reluctantly, under a PPP administration, that privatisation took place. This only occurred after it became clear that the only alternative was complete closure of the bauxite industry.
 
Not only did workers receive their pensions, the fund being supplemented by more than $3 billion by Government to make up contributions which had been unpaid by the company, but for more than a decade the Government subsidized Linden by about $500 million a year while pouring in resources through such programmes as LEAP. The question was not whether bauxite was too big to fail. It was whether bauxite could have been saved as a state owned enterprise. The answer was no.
Billy Ram Balgobin
Billy Ram Balgobin posted:

. The question was not whether bauxite was too big to fail. It was whether bauxite could have been saved as a state owned enterprise. The answer was no.

And now sugar cannot be saved as a state owned enterprise. If the bauxite workers were Indian and the sugar workers black your views would have been the opposite.

Also do yourself a favor and divide GY$500 million by 200 and compare this to the massive subsidies that Guysuco gets.  And add also debt assumed by Guysuco and guaranteed by the gov't.  Sugar workers get way more support than do bauxite workers!

FM

Also reopening the Skeldon debate is embarrassing for the PPP as they were warned against more investment in sugar, given the loss of EU subsidies and the fact that Guyana couldn't compete.

In fact the PPP should have used funds received by the EU to wean Guyana away from sugar into other forms of agriculture, and could have begun to lease lands to sugar workers and assist them into developing alternate crops. But it arrogantly ploughed into Skeldon and now Guysuco is basically insolvent.

It was the PPP which began to close down estates and factories and long ago announced that Demerara operations would have been terminated and Berbice focused around the Skeldon factory.

FM

"The Skeldon Factory was designed to produce sugar at US12 cents a pound. The world price is now US22 cents a pound. This might not be sustained over time. But hopefully, the bulk of Guyana’s sugar sold outside of its traditional markets will be sold in added value form at far higher prices than the world market."


 

Did the white Elephant Skeldon ever produce sugar at the price??

Jagdeo was propping up the PPP major support base,pumping billions of dollars in the Sugar Industry,while the other half of the population had to bear the brunt.

Django
Last edited by Django
caribny posted:
Billy Ram Balgobin posted:

. The question was not whether bauxite was too big to fail. It was whether bauxite could have been saved as a state owned enterprise. The answer was no.

And now sugar cannot be saved as a state owned enterprise. If the bauxite workers were Indian and the sugar workers black your views would have been the opposite.

Also do yourself a favor and divide GY$500 million by 200 and compare this to the massive subsidies that Guysuco gets.  And add also debt assumed by Guysuco and guaranteed by the gov't.  Sugar workers get way more support than do bauxite workers!

Have you chaps forgot about the sugar levy LFS Burnham placed on Guysuco? Lindeners receiving free electricity.  3 billion for their pension funds plus other resources allocated to the Linden

Billy Ram Balgobin
Last edited by Billy Ram Balgobin
Billy Ram Balgobin posted:
.
 

Have you chaps forgot about the sugar levy LFS Burnham placed on Guysuco? Lindeners receiving free electricity.  3 billion for their pension funds plus other resources allocated to the Linden

So shut down Guysuco and give sugar workers cheap electricity. I bet you they will still bawl and scream "black man a starve ahbe."

FM
caribny posted:
Billy Ram Balgobin posted:
.
 

Have you chaps forgot about the sugar levy LFS Burnham placed on Guysuco? Lindeners receiving free electricity.  3 billion for their pension funds plus other resources allocated to the Linden

So shut down Guysuco and give sugar workers cheap electricity. I bet you they will still bawl and scream "black man a starve ahbe."

And the sugar workers will also get their pension funds, and this in addition to the fact that tax payers have directly or indirectly subsidized Guysuco at the rate of US$800 million over the past 10 years.

FM
Billy Ram Balgobin posted:
caribny posted:
Billy Ram Balgobin posted:

. The question was not whether bauxite was too big to fail. It was whether bauxite could have been saved as a state owned enterprise. The answer was no.

And now sugar cannot be saved as a state owned enterprise. If the bauxite workers were Indian and the sugar workers black your views would have been the opposite.

Also do yourself a favor and divide GY$500 million by 200 and compare this to the massive subsidies that Guysuco gets.  And add also debt assumed by Guysuco and guaranteed by the gov't.  Sugar workers get way more support than do bauxite workers!

Have you chaps forgot about the sugar levy LFS Burnham placed on Guysuco? Lindeners receiving free electricity.  3 billion for their pension funds plus other resources allocated to the Linden

Django, Mars, Carib and the rest of the Slop Can Porters, please take note.

FM
skeldon_man posted:
Billy Ram Balgobin posted:
caribny posted:
Billy Ram Balgobin posted:

. The question was not whether bauxite was too big to fail. It was whether bauxite could have been saved as a state owned enterprise. The answer was no.

And now sugar cannot be saved as a state owned enterprise. If the bauxite workers were Indian and the sugar workers black your views would have been the opposite.

Also do yourself a favor and divide GY$500 million by 200 and compare this to the massive subsidies that Guysuco gets.  And add also debt assumed by Guysuco and guaranteed by the gov't.  Sugar workers get way more support than do bauxite workers!

Have you chaps forgot about the sugar levy LFS Burnham placed on Guysuco? Lindeners receiving free electricity.  3 billion for their pension funds plus other resources allocated to the Linden

Django, Mars, Carib and the rest of the Slop Can Porters, please take note.

Porters carry the Piss Pot, that would be you and your crew.

Mars
Tola posted:

When no concrete effort  is being made for the workers after the factory is closed, then  its time for a national strike.

The national strike in the 1960's was effective.  A  strike where those in government are experiencing similar  hardships like the sugar workers, they might come up with a better plan  to look after the workers, or tremendous hardships will be experienced.

I believe sugar should be restructured, but a better plan should be implemented for the workers to transfer  their labour, with no significant loss of income.

It is very disappointing that AFC ministers, who receive large support from Berbice  have remained silent on this issue. They will not be very popular in their home county, especially at the next election.

These people are coasting to a healthy pension and seem to care little for the ordinary person.

AFC/PNC better walk carefully on the closing of sugar estates. It could bring down their government. Like everything else, the AFC/PNC remain clueless.

Moses and Ramjattan have Trump cards but they are so blinded by personal greed that they do not know when to play them. 

FM
Last edited by Former Member
skeldon_man posted:
.
 

Django, Mars, Carib and the rest of the Slop Can Porters, please take note.

Guysuco sugar workers also have their state supported pension funds.
 I suggest that Guysuco be sold and sugar workers get cheap electricity.

Now will you accept this or will you still scream "black man a starve ahbe".

FM
caribny posted:
Tola posted:

When no concrete effort  is being made for the workers after the factory is closed, then  its time for a national strike.

.

When 80% of the bauxite workers lost their jobs you didn't think that that merited a national strike.

No you screamed "blackman lazy".

Amazing when the shoe is on the other foot how you squeal.

And what evidence do you have that the AFC did well in Berbice in 2015. In fact they didn't . I guess you know that New Amsterdam exists and there are other localities with black populations in Berbice. Take the black/mixed population and this conforms to the APNU/AFC vote.  The PPP won back the votes that they lost in 2011.

As long as you people keep bring hateful black-man vs hateful Indians into every discussion, Guyana will continue to deteriorate for everyone.  

Tola
Tola posted:
caribny posted:
Tola posted:

When no concrete effort  is being made for the workers after the factory is closed, then  its time for a national strike.

.

When 80% of the bauxite workers lost their jobs you didn't think that that merited a national strike.

No you screamed "blackman lazy".

Amazing when the shoe is on the other foot how you squeal.

And what evidence do you have that the AFC did well in Berbice in 2015. In fact they didn't . I guess you know that New Amsterdam exists and there are other localities with black populations in Berbice. Take the black/mixed population and this conforms to the APNU/AFC vote.  The PPP won back the votes that they lost in 2011.

As long as you people keep bring hateful black-man vs hateful Indians into every discussion, Guyana will continue to deteriorate for everyone.  

Carib represents the mind set of the PNC.  Just like the PNC top brass, they are now questioning the AFC contribution to the last election results. 

This tells me that they have no regard for Moses and Ramjattan who are now PNC's new foot rags.

FM
Last edited by Former Member
yuji22 posted:
..

Moses and Ramjattan have Trump cards but they are so blinded by personal greed that they do not know when to play them. 

The reason why the AFC Indo faction are ignored is that they brought in very few votes. In fact this is what you all screamed in 2015.

So in what way is the coalition gov't jeopardized.  I will argue that its their overall inept and unimaginative governance and belief that oil will cure all ills that will be the real threat. This because their own base will stay home in 2020.

FM
Last edited by Former Member
Tola posted:
.
 

As long as you people keep bring hateful black-man vs hateful Indians into every discussion, Guyana will continue to deteriorate for everyone.  

I see so it wasn't hateful when the Indo population showed absolutely no sympathy for the plight of the bauxite workers and in fact cheered when the police mowed them down a few years ago.

Always interesting that these kumbaya calls only come up when  Indians are suffering, and yet rejected when its the blacks who felt the pain.

FM
caribny posted:
yuji22 posted:
..

Moses and Ramjattan have Trump cards but they are so blinded by personal greed that they do not know when to play them. 

This because their own base will stay home in 2020.

I have to agree with you on this. Just like how African Americans who were ignored and many stayed home and did not deliver a victory to Hillary.

The problem though is that we will be going around in a big cycle of Blacks vs Indos again. It has to end at some point in time.

Guyana needs a truth commission for the PPP and PNC to spill their guts and let the country move forward. It worked in South Africa, why not Guyana ?

We need to stop fighting and pressuring both the PPP and PNC to end this race based politics.

 

FM
caribny posted:
yuji22 posted:
. they are now questioning the AFC contribution to the last .

I say no more than you did when you boasted that Moses got no votes in his village in 2015.

Just to clarify, are you saying that Moses did not contribute to the last election results for APNU ?

FM
Nehru posted:

It will NOT work in Guyana as long as there are the caribjs, Ts and Hinds of the World!!ACRIA IS WORST that Ian Smith!!

Bhai,

I have to agree with you. Many of us want an end to this race based politics but the PNC with their old school politicians and the likes of Carib and others are holding back Guyana from moving forward.

FM
yuji22 posted:
Tola posted:

When no concrete effort  is being made for the workers after the factory is closed, then  its time for a national strike.

The national strike in the 1960's was effective.  A  strike where those in government are experiencing similar  hardships like the sugar workers, they might come up with a better plan  to look after the workers, or tremendous hardships will be experienced.

I believe sugar should be restructured, but a better plan should be implemented for the workers to transfer  their labour, with no significant loss of income.

It is very disappointing that AFC ministers, who receive large support from Berbice  have remained silent on this issue. They will not be very popular in their home county, especially at the next election.

These people are coasting to a healthy pension and seem to care little for the ordinary person.

AFC/PNC better walk carefully on the closing of sugar estates. It could bring down their government. Like everything else, the AFC/PNC remain clueless.

Moses and Ramjattan have Trump cards but they are so blinded by personal greed that they do not know when to play them. 

god you dumb 

FM
Nehru posted:

It will NOT work in Guyana as long as there are the caribjs, Ts and Hinds of the World!!ACRIA IS WORST that Ian Smith!!

nobody in guyana will hire a drunking bat

 

FM

Warria, please stan easy when big men are talking. Please stop attempting to derail this thread. This discussion is beyond your scope.

FM
Last edited by Former Member
yuji22 posted:
yuji22 posted:

Warria, please stan easy when big men are talking. Please stop attempting to derail this thread. This discussion is beyond your scope.

 

okay bro you win i read what you post i will start drink like nehru

FM

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