Stabroek News

Former Wales sugar workers, families call for gov’t support due to impact of closure

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Some former Wales sugar workers and their families yesterday called for government support due to the toll that the closure of the estate has taken on them and the community.

“The situation for the people and the villages linked to Wales Estate remains bleak and uncertain. It is steadily growing worse and suffering is growing by the day. The future for the people, especially the youth, is not encouragin­g. It is difficult for us to imagine the hardships that would befall the people in the weeks and months that lie ahead. Many of us wonder every day if this is the ‘good life’ we were promised,” Gordon Thomas, a former tug operator, told reporters at the Guyana Agricultur­al and General Workers’ Union (GAWU) head office in Kingston.

Thomas said they are willing to accept subsidies for their utilities, such as water and electricit­y, and any other form of assistance that will help them and their families.

He was part of a group comprising both ex-workers and the spouses of exworkers who related the effect of the closure of the estate, which they said has impacted thousands of ordinary, hard-working Guyanese.

“Today, the sad reality is that the Government and the Guyana Sugar Corporatio­n (GuySuCo) have forcibly taken our livelihood­s from us. In that process, they have sought to take away our dignity and our pride. We have had our dreams shattered and our hopes for a better tomorrow dashed,” he said, while claiming that the “once vibrant” Wales community is a far cry from how it has been just a year ago.

Thomas said that since the closure of the estate, many of the ex-employees have been unable to find jobs, which has been making it difficult for them to sustain their families.

As a result, he said the community has since been filled with higher unemployme­nt, and an increase in crime and other antisocial behaviour.

According to Thomas, even those workers who have received severance from GuySuCo are starting to find it difficult to maintain their families since “those pitiful sums are quickly drying up as we are facing rising living costs to meet life’s basic necessitie­s.”

“Certainly the grave situation will grow graver in the weeks and months ahead and the people will find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place,” he added, while pointing out that the situation has opened doors for domestic problems in households, since most persons have their backs against the wall.

A housewife, Salima Bacchus, who said she was representi­ng her husband, supported Thomas’ point and said that since the estate’s closure, she has found it increasing­ly difficult to manage and balance her everyday expenses.

“Since the estate close, we find it real difficult because we have children going to school. We have bills to pay and they have exams coming up and every day the child goes and do assignment­s, so we have to find money for assignment­s. You know it’s really hard for us as housewives because we are not getting money. How can we afford these things?” the woman said.

Another housewife expressed similar sentiments and explained that she finds it difficult every day to send her children to school.

They said the drastic slowdown in the flow of money in the community has contribute­d to an increase in criminal activities, such as petty crime. They said that persons are being forced to use unlawful and immoral means to obtain money to survive and feed their families.

With respect to those workers who have not yet received their severance payments due to an ongoing challenge by GAWU to

GuySuCo in court, Thomas said that they are very disappoint­ed that there has been no progress with the case, given its significan­ce and importance to a large population of citizens.

He also said that even though President David Granger had said that the matter had been referred to Agricultur­e Minister Noel Holder in August, they “have not heard a word” from him in over two months. As a result, Thomas said that the workers are of the opinion that Granger owes them a proper response.

Head of GAWU Komal Chand, who was also present, stated that the union did the right thing by taking the matter to court. However, he said it was hoping that the move would have led to the government paying the workers and not having them wait until the court case concludes. “As such, we are asking for perpetual financial support down the road,” Chand said.

Thomas said that while the workers were promised that the estate would benefit from a diversific­ation plan, which would involve aquacultur­e, rice and other things, this has not been realised.

“For cane farmers the situation is equally as terrible. Many farmers who had invested large sums in the farms have been forced to abandon their plots. The road to take the farmers’ canes from as far as Free and Easy, several miles south of the Wales factory, to Uitvlugt Estate, is yet to begin,” Thomas said, while highlighti­ng that the gantry to facilitate the discharge of farmers’ cane at Uitvlugt remains incomplete.

While the sugar company has been encouragin­g workers from Wales to take up jobs at Uitvlugt, Romaine Charles, who had worked with the company for more than two decades, says that persons are not getting fulltime jobs and the investment of time to get to the estate is not worth the money that they are being paid.

“They claim that they providing jobs but two or three days and nobody in Wales going to work because they don’t have anything available. It’s terrible conditions too because many days is two tonnes or two and a half tonnes of cane you have to wuk with and you have to leave at 5 and coming back at 7. For what? $2,500 or $3,000 a day? That can’t compensate you for leaving you house so early and coming back so late,” Charles said. An Edinburgh, East Bank Berbice man was yesterday remanded to prison after he was allegedly caught with 13.5 pounds of cannabis on Monday at around 6:00 pm.

Hydrabad Ally, 59, of Lot 40, Edinburgh Housing Scheme, East Bank Berbice was yesterday, charged with possession of narcotics for the purpose of traffickin­g.

Ally pled not guilty to the charge read to him by Magistrate Alex Moore at the New Amsterdam’s Magistrate Court, which stated that on October 9, at Highbury Village, East Bank Berbice, he had in his possession a narcotic, that is to say, 6.210 Kg of cannabis for the purpose of traffickin­g.

Ally, who was refused bail, is expected to return to court on November 3.

According to informatio­n gathered, Deputy Commander B Division, Edmond Cooper, along with other ranks, acting on informatio­n received stopped a grey 212 Toyota Carina motor car, which at the time was being driven by Ally, in Highbury Village.

A search was carried out on the vehicle, which led to the discovery of a white bag in the trunk of the car, with three transparen­t bulky parcels containing cannabis.

Ally was placed under arrest and the items were weighed and amounted to 13.5 pounds.

 ??  ?? Gordon Thomas (at centre) along with the other ex-Wales Estate workers and representa­tives of workers yesterday at the GAWU head office.
Gordon Thomas (at centre) along with the other ex-Wales Estate workers and representa­tives of workers yesterday at the GAWU head office.
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