Skeldon Estate employees allege racial discrimination, victimisation
December 3, 2011 | By KNews.
…..one claims he was suspended for reading Kaieteur News
Racial discrimination, poor work ethics and behaviour, victimization, poor work safety procedures and wastage of canes are some of the allegations being leveled against the top echelons of the New Skeldon Modernized Estate.
One employee, who is afraid to come out in the open to speak out, was suspended by his immediate supervisor for one month for reading the Kaieteur News on the job.
This individual would be referred to as ‘Mark’. Mark stated that in late September, he saw that a worker, who had just joined the job, need some assistance. They were working at the conveyor belt and the worker was supposed to be picking up the pieces of chopped canes that were falling off the conveyor belt.
Mark said that he picked up a pitchfork and started to assist the worker. “When more than half the canes finished, the belt stopped. So we started to scrape up the cane.” He added that during this time another employee arrived at the conveyor belt location and showed him (Mark) a September 29, 2011 article in the Kaieteur News ‘Corentyne Scam Artist on the Prowl’.
Mark then picked up the paper from the ground to see what the article was about, just when Mr Ompratab saw him. He said Ompratab became angry and shouted at him, “This is what you doing? You leaving the work unsupervised?!”
Mark tried to explain that the other employee had thrown the newspaper on the ground and he (Mark) was just trying to take a glance at the article. The supervisor did not accept the explanation. Mark said he was asked to write a statement
“He’s a very arrogant, hasty and ignorant fella; [he] treats workers badly”, Mark noted.
The source alleged that some time in June, a new employee was caught by the factory manager, Mr Goberdhan, carting off large amounts of brass from the old estate factory. “He dropped the brass and run. The other man run and run and run. Police look for he and after a month, they found him and he told them what happened,” Mark revealed. That person was dismissed but the main perpetrator of the act is still on the job.
The employee also said that the Champion Worker process that is held annually across all the estates “is a farce”. He noted that the estate has several departments and categories of workers and questioned how the winners are selected. He alleged favouritism in the Work Council.
“It is a friend and family affair”, he noted. “You can’t compare a man’s output in the backdam with a man in the factory or in the office. So the Champion Worker thing is a farce! If you are a part of the Work Council and you see someone is your family, who would you support?”
Another employee, who will be called ‘John’, who works in the backdam, opined that “half of the workers at the Skeldon Estate are not fully qualified”.
“For instance, the pay office, some of them make grave mistakes and when you try to correct them, they turn you into a great enemy.”
John noted that on one occasion he went to the Pay Office to query $900 that was short from his salary. “When I go there, the Chief Accountant was down my throat. Next thing, she called the department in which I was working and spoke a set of lies about me”.
He alleged examples of racial discrimination. “Estate management a bring race and politics”. “Like if me and an Indian person get into hot water. The Indian person would get suspended and the African would get fired. It is happening a lot,” he noted.
The source said that there are some foremen who “do not know how to talk to people”. “They cuss you whole day. They use abusive language. They tell you how you mother make you. This is the scenario that you gotta work in. it is not a healthy working environment”, he said.
He noted that “this estate here, they trample on the rights of the workers”. He added that he was penalized because he missed work one night because he had to take his wife to the Skeldon Hospital for examination.
“The next night I went to work, the Corporal that was going out, the Sergeant said you can’t get work tonight and that you gotta meet him in the morning”. John had two days’ money cut out of his salary.
He said that he wrote a letter to the Personnel, thinking it would be confidential. “However the letter leaked and I started to get victimized”.
“They started to write things on the wall, how I get AIDS; that I am an Anti Man. If you not for them, they eat you raw. Even if they catch you napping—it is back to slavery!”
The employees believe that these treatments are being meted out to them because “Skeldon lacks competition”.
The sources added that even though there are several Union Representatives (one particularly named, Mr Khan, a Field Secretary), who work among them, they do not get any satisfaction.
“These people taking your money every week and when you get yourself in hot water, they’re not there to represent you. It is like a fraud system. It is like the estate buy them out”.
“If a rep come out against them, it will cause disruption. So what they do, they buy out the rep.”
Mark added that there have been numerous strikes against the current Factory Manager. The employee said, too, that there is huge wastage of sugar at the new Skeldon Factory because “there is no recovery system”.
“Tons and tons of sugar are being wasted per day”.
Large amounts of cane, he said, fall off the conveyor cable and “plenty a pitch out…when the knives a chop them, lots of canes a fall on the ground”.
Several problems with the National Insurance Scheme were also identified. There are disparities with the number of contributions NIS had from what the estate submitted on behalf of workers.
General Manager of Skeldon Estate, Mr Karamchand Ramdeo, said that he was unaware of the issues raised by the workers and asked that they check with him. If they do not wish to get on to him, they may also contact the Field Secretary of GAWU on the estate. The workers have since related that they have no confidence in reporting these matters to either individual.
December 3, 2011 | By KNews.
…..one claims he was suspended for reading Kaieteur News
Racial discrimination, poor work ethics and behaviour, victimization, poor work safety procedures and wastage of canes are some of the allegations being leveled against the top echelons of the New Skeldon Modernized Estate.
One employee, who is afraid to come out in the open to speak out, was suspended by his immediate supervisor for one month for reading the Kaieteur News on the job.
This individual would be referred to as ‘Mark’. Mark stated that in late September, he saw that a worker, who had just joined the job, need some assistance. They were working at the conveyor belt and the worker was supposed to be picking up the pieces of chopped canes that were falling off the conveyor belt.
Mark said that he picked up a pitchfork and started to assist the worker. “When more than half the canes finished, the belt stopped. So we started to scrape up the cane.” He added that during this time another employee arrived at the conveyor belt location and showed him (Mark) a September 29, 2011 article in the Kaieteur News ‘Corentyne Scam Artist on the Prowl’.
Mark then picked up the paper from the ground to see what the article was about, just when Mr Ompratab saw him. He said Ompratab became angry and shouted at him, “This is what you doing? You leaving the work unsupervised?!”
Mark tried to explain that the other employee had thrown the newspaper on the ground and he (Mark) was just trying to take a glance at the article. The supervisor did not accept the explanation. Mark said he was asked to write a statement
“He’s a very arrogant, hasty and ignorant fella; [he] treats workers badly”, Mark noted.
The source alleged that some time in June, a new employee was caught by the factory manager, Mr Goberdhan, carting off large amounts of brass from the old estate factory. “He dropped the brass and run. The other man run and run and run. Police look for he and after a month, they found him and he told them what happened,” Mark revealed. That person was dismissed but the main perpetrator of the act is still on the job.
The employee also said that the Champion Worker process that is held annually across all the estates “is a farce”. He noted that the estate has several departments and categories of workers and questioned how the winners are selected. He alleged favouritism in the Work Council.
“It is a friend and family affair”, he noted. “You can’t compare a man’s output in the backdam with a man in the factory or in the office. So the Champion Worker thing is a farce! If you are a part of the Work Council and you see someone is your family, who would you support?”
Another employee, who will be called ‘John’, who works in the backdam, opined that “half of the workers at the Skeldon Estate are not fully qualified”.
“For instance, the pay office, some of them make grave mistakes and when you try to correct them, they turn you into a great enemy.”
John noted that on one occasion he went to the Pay Office to query $900 that was short from his salary. “When I go there, the Chief Accountant was down my throat. Next thing, she called the department in which I was working and spoke a set of lies about me”.
He alleged examples of racial discrimination. “Estate management a bring race and politics”. “Like if me and an Indian person get into hot water. The Indian person would get suspended and the African would get fired. It is happening a lot,” he noted.
The source said that there are some foremen who “do not know how to talk to people”. “They cuss you whole day. They use abusive language. They tell you how you mother make you. This is the scenario that you gotta work in. it is not a healthy working environment”, he said.
He noted that “this estate here, they trample on the rights of the workers”. He added that he was penalized because he missed work one night because he had to take his wife to the Skeldon Hospital for examination.
“The next night I went to work, the Corporal that was going out, the Sergeant said you can’t get work tonight and that you gotta meet him in the morning”. John had two days’ money cut out of his salary.
He said that he wrote a letter to the Personnel, thinking it would be confidential. “However the letter leaked and I started to get victimized”.
“They started to write things on the wall, how I get AIDS; that I am an Anti Man. If you not for them, they eat you raw. Even if they catch you napping—it is back to slavery!”
The employees believe that these treatments are being meted out to them because “Skeldon lacks competition”.
The sources added that even though there are several Union Representatives (one particularly named, Mr Khan, a Field Secretary), who work among them, they do not get any satisfaction.
“These people taking your money every week and when you get yourself in hot water, they’re not there to represent you. It is like a fraud system. It is like the estate buy them out”.
“If a rep come out against them, it will cause disruption. So what they do, they buy out the rep.”
Mark added that there have been numerous strikes against the current Factory Manager. The employee said, too, that there is huge wastage of sugar at the new Skeldon Factory because “there is no recovery system”.
“Tons and tons of sugar are being wasted per day”.
Large amounts of cane, he said, fall off the conveyor cable and “plenty a pitch out…when the knives a chop them, lots of canes a fall on the ground”.
Several problems with the National Insurance Scheme were also identified. There are disparities with the number of contributions NIS had from what the estate submitted on behalf of workers.
General Manager of Skeldon Estate, Mr Karamchand Ramdeo, said that he was unaware of the issues raised by the workers and asked that they check with him. If they do not wish to get on to him, they may also contact the Field Secretary of GAWU on the estate. The workers have since related that they have no confidence in reporting these matters to either individual.
