International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations Rampe du Pont-Rouge, 8 CH-1213 Petit-Lancy (Switzerland)
TEL: + 41 22 793 22 33 FAX + 41 22 793 22 38
TELEFAX To:
Seepaul Narine General secretary; Komal Chand, President; GAWU and Kenneth Joseph General Secretary, NAACIE By email Concerns:
Date: February 9, 2016 Ref: ro/sl/0025
Closure of the Wales Sugar Estate, West Demerara
Dear Comrades, The IUF has worked with our affiliates in Guyana for many years to try together to improve the living and working conditions of workers in the sugar sector. It was therefore with shock and some disbelief that we received the news of the GuySuCo plans, made without proper consultation with you, the trade unions representing workers in the sector, to close the Wales Sugar Estate at the end of 2016’s second sugar crop. Sugar has historically played an important role in Guyana. It has been a crucial source of rural employment. Workers on the estate and the families who depend on them will surely be pushed into poverty by this cruel closure. We note that you have registered your strong opposition to and total disagreement with the decision to close the Wales Sugar Estate. We assure you of the IUF’s support. We will be alerting our affiliates worldwide to the situation and calling on them to support Guyana’s sugar workers in their hour of need. An injury to one is an injury to all. Yours in solidarity
Ron Oswald General Secretary
Clifton Grant IUF Caribbean, Regional Secretary