THE SUGAR STRIKE IS RECKLESS
February 23, 2012 | By KNews | Filed Under Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
Source - Kaieteur News
There is a casualness bordering on recklessness about actions in the sugar belt, where strikes are presently taking place for the flimsiest of reasons.
The sugar industry is important not just to the workers in Guyana, but to the entire economy. When the industry suffers, it is not just the workers that suffer but the entire country.
As such the workers have to understand that they are part of an industry that affects more than just their livelihood. Because of this, the government has taken steps to keep the industry afloat and has borrowed internationally and locally so as to ensure that the industry does not collapse.
Indiscriminate strike action without exhausting all peaceful and negotiated options is therefore irresponsible. The workers need to be more disciplined, because their actions are self- defeating, and hurting the very industry that provides them with a living.
The issues that are of bother to the workers of Blairmont may be serious, but do not justify the sort of high-handed action that has been taken. As far as can be ascertained, these issues ought never to have led to industrial action. If those issues, such as having to obtain passes to leave the compound after finishing work, cannot be resolved through simple representation, then something is either radically wrong with the industrial relations climate within the industry, or the workers are being led astray.
They should also understand the predicament that they face. The sugar company is not in a healthy situation. It continues to underperform, mainly because of falling production, the principle source of which is the poor turnout of workers on the estates.
What happens then if the sugar company decided to strike on the workers for such a poor rate of turnout? What if the corporation decided to lay off all the workers, pay them all their benefits, and then contract out labour to private contractors?
This in fact may be a far cheaper option and more reliable way for the corporation to ensure adequate labour. Labour may even be imported from Brazil for this purpose.
The workers, however, are going to be very upset with this and their union is going to hit the roof. But how can the workers justify their actions of striking at a time when the industry really needs to get its production going? The strike at present is hurting the corporation and those effects are ultimately going to be felt by the workers.
What is even more alarming is that as far as can be ascertained, the unions have not called a strike. And any industrial action, therefore, should be seen as unwarranted.
The sugar company should therefore issue an ultimatum. The workers either return to work of face dismissal. It is as simple as that.
At another estate, the bogey of the annual production incentive has been raised. The production of the sugar company has fallen way short of projections and has declined appreciably below 300,000 tons when it should have been at around 450,000 tons, yet the workers are demanding an annual production incentive.
The entire industry, of course, should not be penalized for the failure to meet the national production targets. Those estates that did well should be given their incentives, but it is time that the workers also understand that they are working for a loss-making industry.
For the record, the government has not decided to pay the workers an incentive. This is what is being spun in some sections of the media to create the impression that the government has agreed to pay the sugar workers an incentive. This is mischief- making.
The incentive has already been earned, but has not been paid as yet, because the sugar corporation has cash flow problems.
GuySuCo is in serious financial problems and has been in the red for years now. When a company loses one-third of its income because of changes in its export price, it ought to go out of business. But the government has chosen to stay in the sugar business, because of the very workers whose actions now are harming the industry.
These workers are fortunate that the PPP/C government is still in power, because one of the opposition parties had signaled on the campaign trail that it would have closed the sugar industry down. Given what is happening in parliament now, the future of the sugar industry does not seem bright, since given the mood that the opposition is in right now, it is possible that it can veto any transfer to the sugar industry.
And in the opposition’s misunderstanding of the financial bills, they may even inadvertently stop the transfer of international foreign aid through the consolidated fund for use in the sugar industry. So the workers should not feel too comfortable that they can strike for any and every reason.
The sugar corporation has assured that the API will be paid by mid- March. The workers should exercise greater understanding and try to cut the corporation some slack, because things are very tight now with the industry, and a government guarantee is no longer assured given that the opposition now controls the purse strings of the economy.
The sugar workers have to be responsible. If they are not prepared to be responsible, then the sugar company should do the right thing and simply contract out the labour force. Let the chips fall where they have to fall!
February 23, 2012 | By KNews | Filed Under Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
Source - Kaieteur News
There is a casualness bordering on recklessness about actions in the sugar belt, where strikes are presently taking place for the flimsiest of reasons.
The sugar industry is important not just to the workers in Guyana, but to the entire economy. When the industry suffers, it is not just the workers that suffer but the entire country.
As such the workers have to understand that they are part of an industry that affects more than just their livelihood. Because of this, the government has taken steps to keep the industry afloat and has borrowed internationally and locally so as to ensure that the industry does not collapse.
Indiscriminate strike action without exhausting all peaceful and negotiated options is therefore irresponsible. The workers need to be more disciplined, because their actions are self- defeating, and hurting the very industry that provides them with a living.
The issues that are of bother to the workers of Blairmont may be serious, but do not justify the sort of high-handed action that has been taken. As far as can be ascertained, these issues ought never to have led to industrial action. If those issues, such as having to obtain passes to leave the compound after finishing work, cannot be resolved through simple representation, then something is either radically wrong with the industrial relations climate within the industry, or the workers are being led astray.
They should also understand the predicament that they face. The sugar company is not in a healthy situation. It continues to underperform, mainly because of falling production, the principle source of which is the poor turnout of workers on the estates.
What happens then if the sugar company decided to strike on the workers for such a poor rate of turnout? What if the corporation decided to lay off all the workers, pay them all their benefits, and then contract out labour to private contractors?
This in fact may be a far cheaper option and more reliable way for the corporation to ensure adequate labour. Labour may even be imported from Brazil for this purpose.
The workers, however, are going to be very upset with this and their union is going to hit the roof. But how can the workers justify their actions of striking at a time when the industry really needs to get its production going? The strike at present is hurting the corporation and those effects are ultimately going to be felt by the workers.
What is even more alarming is that as far as can be ascertained, the unions have not called a strike. And any industrial action, therefore, should be seen as unwarranted.
The sugar company should therefore issue an ultimatum. The workers either return to work of face dismissal. It is as simple as that.
At another estate, the bogey of the annual production incentive has been raised. The production of the sugar company has fallen way short of projections and has declined appreciably below 300,000 tons when it should have been at around 450,000 tons, yet the workers are demanding an annual production incentive.
The entire industry, of course, should not be penalized for the failure to meet the national production targets. Those estates that did well should be given their incentives, but it is time that the workers also understand that they are working for a loss-making industry.
For the record, the government has not decided to pay the workers an incentive. This is what is being spun in some sections of the media to create the impression that the government has agreed to pay the sugar workers an incentive. This is mischief- making.
The incentive has already been earned, but has not been paid as yet, because the sugar corporation has cash flow problems.
GuySuCo is in serious financial problems and has been in the red for years now. When a company loses one-third of its income because of changes in its export price, it ought to go out of business. But the government has chosen to stay in the sugar business, because of the very workers whose actions now are harming the industry.
These workers are fortunate that the PPP/C government is still in power, because one of the opposition parties had signaled on the campaign trail that it would have closed the sugar industry down. Given what is happening in parliament now, the future of the sugar industry does not seem bright, since given the mood that the opposition is in right now, it is possible that it can veto any transfer to the sugar industry.
And in the opposition’s misunderstanding of the financial bills, they may even inadvertently stop the transfer of international foreign aid through the consolidated fund for use in the sugar industry. So the workers should not feel too comfortable that they can strike for any and every reason.
The sugar corporation has assured that the API will be paid by mid- March. The workers should exercise greater understanding and try to cut the corporation some slack, because things are very tight now with the industry, and a government guarantee is no longer assured given that the opposition now controls the purse strings of the economy.
The sugar workers have to be responsible. If they are not prepared to be responsible, then the sugar company should do the right thing and simply contract out the labour force. Let the chips fall where they have to fall!