– pushes for new Board at once

By Kristen Macklingam

Government may find itself breaching laws which govern the Sugar Industry Labour Welfare Fund Committee (SILWFC) as it relates to procedures which must be followed for the establishment of a new Board of Directors.

President of GAWU Komal Chand

FITUG President Carvil Duncan

Former First Lady Deolatchmie Ramotar

This newspaper was told that the Administration was attempting to establish a new Board although the present Board was still in place.
Guyana Times understands that the life of the present Board, which is being chaired by former First Lady Deolatchmie Ramotar, comes to an end in June 2016.

Reports are the Administration has already requested that nominations be put forward for persons to comprise a new Board.

Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) President Carvil Duncan on Sunday told this publication that quite recently a letter was sent to the Social Protection Minister, Volda Lawrence, notifying her of the situation.

“She wants to appoint the Sugar Welfare Board and we are saying that the life of the Board is until around midyear 2016. So she cannot appoint another Board, what she needs to do is resuscitate the Board, but legally…you just can’t bring the Board to an end and create a new Board,” Duncan explained.
He told Guyana Times that should the Minister desire to make changes in the makeup of the present Board, she could name a new Chairperson, but could not create a new Board while one was still functioning.

According to Duncan, Minister Lawrence recently sent letters to the Guyana Labour Union (GLU); Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) requesting that they nominate persons for positions on the new Board.

“What she needs to do is resuscitate the Board; she shouldn’t have stopped the Board from functioning in the first place. She can put the Board on pause. A new Government came into place and the Chairman was not holding meetings, but the Chairman was still signing cheques, because the Ministry of Finance asked her to sign cheques and our members who had to sign cheques were still signing cheques so that people could be paid, so, for all intents and purposes, the Board is still functioning,” Duncan stated.

GAWU President Komal Chand told this newspaper on Sunday that in keeping with the regulations of the sugar industry liberalisation committee, the Unions are of the view that only when the life of a Board expires, it should either be renewed or a new Board appointed.

“The fact that the Board is not meeting, workers’ issues like loans, house building loans and other matters concerning sugar workers cannot be addressed. These are things that are waiting for a decision to be made. Further, the employees for the first time are not having their issues with respect to wage increases addressed because the Board ought to be in place to be able to set the guidelines for the members of the Committee that they might choose to bargain with the Union,” Chand added.

It must be noted that SILWFC is a legal entity, which affords sugar workers the opportunity to have interest-free housing and house-repair loans within specific ceilings.

As part of its mandate, it assists sugar workers in the maintenance of proper internal roads and sanitation in their communities.
SILWFC has also been significantly involved in house lot allocation and water subsidies for qualifying workers.  (kristenm@guyanatimesgy.com)