Nearly 3,500 sugar workers engaged in the fields and factories of Albion, Blairmont and Uitvlugt Estates have submitted, through their union – the Guyana Agricultural Workers’ Union (GAWU – a petition to President David Granger, calling for an increase in pay.
According to the union, the workers have pointed out that they have been working for the same rates-of-pay since 2015 though the cost-of-living has risen “significantly” in the ensuing period.
“The nation’s sugar workers noted too that their earnings have declined owing to a number of factors such as lessened crop weeks, restriction of certain benefits, the suspension of other long-standing conditions-of-work, among other things. The situation, the workers lamented, has found them and their families between a rock and a hard place,” GAWU reported.
The workers, through their petition, shared that they were of the view that the Government of Guyana, as the owner of the industry, had a responsibility to ensure that they benefit from adequate compensation to maintain their standard of living and thus avoiding impoverishment.
GAWU, in support of its subscribers, cited Article 23(3) of the United Nations (UN) Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which says “Everyone who works has the right to favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplement, if necessary, by other means of social protection”.
The declaration at Article 25(1) was also cited. It states: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care, and necessary social services …”.
The workers also told the President that they were an important tenet in the long-term sustainability of the sugar industry and that he should use his office to have the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) approve an appropriate rise in pay at their upcoming negotiations with the GAWU.
The union noted that the workers are eagerly looking forward to hearing from the President regarding their petition.
“They shared that it has been a trying period for them and their families and an improvement in pay will really go a long way in easing the burdens and difficulties they face nowadays. The GAWU is also hopeful that the President will consider the workers cries knowing that they are supportive voices in the industry who have advocated that the workers be awarded an improvement in their pay,” the union emphasised.
