Vice President (VP), Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday addressed comments made by Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) President Mark Lyte regarding the government’s handling of a recent strike-action by the Guyana Sugar Corporation’s (GUYSUCO) workers.
During his Labour Day address on Wednesday, the GTU President questioned the government’s swiftness in responding to GUYSUCO workers’ one-day strike compared to the 29-day protest by teachers. He implied that there may have been preferential treatment towards the sugar workers.
Lyte said, “I’m wondering whether the striking GUYSUCO workers from the Canje, Rose Hall Estate, if their matter was settled, I saw them for a few hours and I haven’t seen them again…I believe if the matter was unsettled, they would have been outside again…”
In his response, Jagdeo clarified that the two issues cannot be compared, emphasising that the sugar workers were demanding entitlements outlined in their collective bargaining agreement that have been in place for the past four decades.
The VP noted that the strike resulted from workers not receiving their paid leave once the crop finished.
“So again, oh sugar workers are Indians, therefore PPP responded quickly, but didn’t respond to the teachers. It’s two totally different issue,” Jagdeo said.
Moreover, he said that Lyte is using the sugar workers strike for money they are entitled to and wrongfully compared it with the GTU requesting salary adjustments for the years 2017 to 2023 – which resulted in industrial action. The Vice President criticized Lyte’s attempt to equate the two strikes, and dismissed the insinuation of racism in the government’s response.
“That was their (sugar workers) entitlements throughout…he (Lyte)equates it with that. So swift to make a racist kind of comparison issues that are totally different,” Jagdeo concluded.
