PRESS RELEASE
The People's Progressive Party (PPP) salutes the memory of the five sugar workers- who were gunned down in a savage and cold blooded manner by colonial Police on June 16, 1948.
The five slain sugar workers, now referred to as the Enmore Martyrs stand as a living monument to the struggles and sacrifices waged by sugar workers for a living wage and better conditions of work.
...It was the brutal murder of the five sugar workers that served as a catalyst to the formation of the PPP on January 1, 1950.Indeed, it was at the graveside of the slain workers that Dr. Jagan made that silent pledge to dedicate his entire life to the cause of the working people.
Regrettably, sugar workers today face an uncertain future with the closure of the Wales Estate and the impending closure of the LBI estate. In addition, workers are denied production incentive bonuses, and collective bargaining agreements with their union GAWU have now been honoured in the breach.
The PPP takes this opportunity of Enmore Martyrs Day to renew its commitment to defend the rights of all sugar workers especially at this time when the industry is experiencing a period of unprecedented crisis. The gains made for sugar workers and workers on the whole are gradually being whittled away by an unsympathetic and uncaring regime which is more concerned about feathering its own nest rather than that of the working class.
The PPP urges all workers to unite and close ranks against this onslaught in honour of the heroic struggles waged by the Enmore Martyrs who paid the ultimate price of sacrificing their lives in defence of their rights.
The PPP also calls on the Granger administration to stop playing politics with the lives and livelihoods of sugar workers and immediately halt the closure of sugar estates.
Further, the PPP calls on the government to instruct GUYSUCO to respect the collective labour agreement it has with unions operating in the sugar industry.
This disrespect and callous attitude displayed by GUYSUCO is a clear violation of industrial relations enshrined in the Conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
The PPP takes this opportunity of Enmore Martyrs Day to serve notice on the APNU-AFC administration that it will not sit idly by and allow the rights of workers to be ignored and violated.
People's Progressive Party