Still no Guysuco- GAWU pay talks

Last Updated on Friday, 30 October 2015, 19:39 by GxMedia

Wage and salary negotiations between the Guyana Sugar Corporation (Guysuco) and the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) are yet to get off the ground, the union said Friday.

Responding to a request for a meeting Friday, union representatives held talks with a Guysuco led by its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Errol Hanoman who informed that the time was not ripe for the negotiations to begin.

“The CEO having been pressed to provide an answer said that he could not advise on a date and informed the Union’s delegation that the negotiations would begin after GuySuCo has obtained a framework in which the negotiations would take place,” said GAWU in a statement.

Previously, the Corporation had given as its reason for not yet going to the bargaining table that government- Guysuco’s shareholder- had not yet considered the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the state and future of the sugar industry.

This time around, GAWU said Hanoman’s reason implied that he  “is awaiting the framework from the Government possibly via the Corporation’s Board.”

GAWU wants a nine percent increase in wages and salaries.

The union said it would be meeting on Saturday, November 7, 2015 to discuss this latest development.

GAWU’s President , Komal Chand has already said he would not rule out another strike. The union earlier this week ended a three-day strike in the hope of pressuring management to go to the bargaining table.

Guysuco’s annual wage and salary bill is more than 60 percent of already declining revenues coupled with low production and high production costs and low world market prices for the sweetner.

Guysuco produces one pound of sugar at 40 American cents while the average world market price is about 11 cents per pound.