PM in stormy meetings with ex-sugar workers in Berbice

Saturday, January 27

Protesters greeted Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and other government officials at stormy meetings yesterday at Canje and Skeldon where former sugar workers were told that they will begin receiving severance from Tuesday but there was little information on alternative employment. The sugar industry has been convulsed by the severing of 4,763 workers at the end of December last year. Of that number, 1,851 are from the Skeldon Estate and 1,181 from Rose Hall. The APNU+AFC government had been accused of not reaching out to the workers, particularly in the Berbice sugar belt and failing to come up with options for them. Nagamootoo’s visit and a similar one to Enmore yesterday by another ministerial team were the first outreaches since the redundancies were announced last month by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo). Nagamootoo, accompanied by Minister of Agriculture Noel Holder and Minister in the Ministry of Finance Jaipaul Sharma, told the former sugar workers in Skeldon and Canje that over 1,000 persons would receive their entire severance package from Tuesday. At both locations, the PM and his team were greeted by dozens of irate protesters, while others attempted to disrupt his speeches. Some of the ex-sugar workers also stormed out of the meetings. However, Nagamootoo continued with his presentation at both locations and announced that from Tuesday persons whose severance payments amounted to less than $500,000 would receive their entire package. The others will receive a portion of their severance package and the remainder in the second half of the year. The PM, who hails from Whim on the Corentyne, said that 1,600 persons are expected to receive either their entire severance package or half.