The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) is alarmed by reports it received earlier today on the health of the Uitvlugt factory. In a statement to the press moments ago, the Union said that over the last 24 hours, the factory utilized on average, 296.6 tonnes of cane to produce a tonne of sugar.
Just yesterday, GAWU said that the very estate utilized just over 29 tonnes cane to produce a tonne of sugar. “In other words, the situation deteriorated by 921 percent…” the worried Union said.
Further to this, GAWU noted that the workers who are deeply upset about the situation shared that mechanical breakdowns are at the root of the problem. Guyana Standard understands that the factory suffered breakdowns aggregating to some 415 hours over its 11-week cropping period. The breakdowns are equivalent to about 3.2 weeks of operations.
At this time, GAWU noted that the Uitvlugt Estate is concluding its first crop with harvesting operations having come to an end earlier this week. Production for the crop at this morning stood at 8,425 tonnes sugar as against a crop target of 9,410 tonnes. Based on the canes remaining to be crushed, it is estimated that the estate will fall shy of its target by about 800 tonnes of sugar and possibly even more if the disturbing situation over the last 24 hours prevails.
