Agri Minister issues ‘attitude’ warning to GuySuCo managers
During a recent meeting with several senior managers from the Albion, Rose Hall and Skeldon Estates, Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha said that the ‘top heavy’ attitudes of managers when dealing with lower level staff must be corrected.
“Over the years, some managers from several estates have developed an attitude that is not conducive to a proper functioning establishment and, as a result, workers have been complaining bitterly about the way the estates are functioning. Since taking office, several workers from a number of estates have been coming to my weekly open days to complain about the attitudes of some of you. One worker even informed me of an incident where they told a manager that there (was damage) to a structure and that repairs should be done and the manager said to wait until its broken. Those types of attitudes and behaviours will not be tolerated,” Mustapha said, according to a release yesterday from his ministry.
Mustapha added that if managers do not change their attitudes, GuySuCo will be left with no other alternative but to “part company” with them.
According to the release, Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation, Sasenarine Singh said that the corporation also plans to conduct a review of management at the end of the second crop.
“We will be conducting a review to assess your management styles and skills at the end of the crop. We understand that some of you genuinely had challenges that affected the way you operated due to lack of funding in the past. Government has since injected large sums of money into GuySuCo in order to get the estates to a place where they can function and function effectively. You have no excuse now.
Change your attitudes or be prepared to say goodbye to GuySuCo,” Singh stated.
Mustapha, the release said, also took the time to listen to some of the issues and needs of the managers in order to ensure the estates function effectively.
Apart from much needed repairs to factory and field machinery, the managers pointed to the need for improvements in crop husbandry, better industrial relations and timely inputs of fertilizer to improve the quality of the canes and ultimately lower the factories’ tons of cane to tons of sugar ratio.