Issue#:4 Volume#: 34
Combat Voice of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU)
Editorial:
As year-end 2013 beckons... Readers of Combat will probably be reading this in September, 2013. That means the first of the “…ber” months, September, signals the final other three, as 2013 beckons Diwali, Eid and Christmas, then the end of another year.
Sugar Industry struggles
And what has the nation achieved? What constituent parts and national issues and developments have contributed to the current status of the state – our Green Land of Guyana – as you read this editorial commentary? The editors of Combat posit that, from the perspective of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), any assessment of the year 2013, so far, must be based on the expectations and accomplishments in the area of economic progress, production, and an enabling environment of peace, conducive to all-round national development. This is the context within which the working-class evaluates any period of national existence. So what do we find in September, 2013? The “environment” hoped for has witnessed – and is experiencing – volatile dysfunction. From Parliamentary sabotage of the potentially single most expansive economic project ever in Guyana – the proposed Amaila Hydro-power Electric Plant – to the consistent incidents of home-invasion, robberies, thefts from businesses, burglaries, and other antisocial manifestation of crime, Guyana’s society today seems to deter development. Political gamesmanship and disharmony thwart any consensus in the interest of the electors, who chose Parliamentary representatives. Gross mismanagement of the flagship Skeldon Sugar Factory – in terms of sound choice of investor-manufactures and good pre-planning for actual cane production – is endangering the future of the vital sugar industry. In the latter regard, GAWU’s President, Komal Chand, has vigorously pursued answers and engagements with the Board of GuySuCo, in terms of the sector and Skeldon. The European Union (EU) envoy in Georgetown took time off to engage the Union on the issue of the EU’s contributions to Guyana’s Sugar, including the performance indicators employed by the EU. continued on page two COMBAT: July/August, 2013
July/August, 2013
The harvest of the second crop of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) which commenced at varying dates during the months of July and August, 2013 at several estates has been restricted by unusual rainfalls. The month of August was extremely wet. Unusual downpour of rains caused the cane fields to become non-conducive for harvesting to take place. Wet soil hampers the semi-mechanical harvesters which transport harvested canes from the fields to the cane punts
in the nearby canals. It also restricts the use of the mechanical cane harvesters at those estates where such machines are in use. The production figures exemplify the impact of the bad weather on the crop’s production which ought to have been 69,366 tonnes as at the end of August. However, it was merely 34,307 tonnes or 49.46 per cent of the expected production. The outlook for the crop’s production, which is scheduled by wthe Corporation to conclude in mid-November, 2013, is gloomy. Already a source predicted that the year’s sugar production would be under 200,000 tonnes. At the beginning of the year the industry set its target at 240,000 tonnes. This year’s first crop was the lowest in decades with a production of 48,038 tonnes sugar. At the end of August, 2013, production was merely 82,345 tonnes, a far cry from the expected production.
Lightning strikes affect sugar workers Lightning strikes on August 30, 2013, in the midst of thunderous sounds, killed a young sugar worker at Wales Estate, and injured another seven (7) at Blairmont Estate. Seventeen-(17)-year-old Klein Roberts of the rodent control gang was stuck whilst he was setting rat bait in a cane field along with three (3) colleagues who were working Klien Roberts in neighbouring fields. As the rains and thunder grew more intense, Roberts’s colleagues withdrew from their assisgnments and went to the earthen dam surround
the fields where they waited until the thunderstorm passed. Roberts having not joined them on the dam, they launched a search for him and found his sprawled body on the ground with burns to his head, his protective cap, clothes and some parts of his body. He was rushed to the West Demerara Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead. At the Blairmont Estate, workers Mike Harrilall, 21; Omesh Deochan, 27; Wahabali Bacchus; David Ramdihol, 28; Derrick Ramnarine, 25; Deodat Sahadat, 42, and Ramesh Ramoo, 38, were cutting canes when they were struck by lightning. They were administered first-aid in the backdam by their colleagues, and were quickly rushed to the Fort Wellington Hospital, where they received further treatment. Ramdihol’s condition was considered critical. He was placed on oxygen and saline and referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he was hospitalized for two (2) days. Page One