| The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) yesterday held its preliminary meeting with the arbitration tribunal set up to deal with the soured wages negotiation between the parties.During the first meeting,Cheap NFL Jerseys, which was held in the Bank of Guyana boardroom, it was agreed that both sides will present oral and written submissions arguing their positions to the tribunal.It was also agreed that on September 24,Wholesale Jerseys, both parties will exchange and present their written submissions to the Chairman of the arbitration tribunal,Wholesale Authentic Jerseys, Gobind Ganga, while on September 27, oral presentations will be heard.In his report following yesterday’s meeting, Ganga stated that both parties have agreed that the matter should be dealt with in an efficient and timely manner.It was agreed that by mid November, the arbitration tribunal will commence the preparation of its report.Soured wage negotiations between the company and the GAWU resulted in workers taking industrial action, which has to date, lasted for almost four weeks.At yesterday’s meeting, GuySuCo was represented by its Human Resource Director, J. Petram and Senior Industrial Relations Office, F. Carryl.GAWU on the other hand was represented by its President, Komal Chand, along with three other employees including a consultant from Trinidad and Tobago, Roodal Moonilal.The three-man tribunal team, led by Ganga, was established on August 29 last to deal with the wages dispute.Other members of the team are Attorney at Law, Cecil Seepersaud and Major General (ret’d) Norman McLean.The dispute between the two bodies has been taken to arbitration, after efforts at the conciliation process proved futile.Both sides will be bound by the decision of the arbitration panel.Earlier this month, Minister of Labour,Wholesale NHL Jerseys, Manzoor Nadir, told the media that after the deadlock was declared on the negotiations, he imposed compulsory arbitration.Last Tuesday, Chief Executive Officer of GuySuCo, Nick Jackson, told Kaieteur News that millions of dollars has been lost as a result of the sugar industry missing the targeted 55,000 tonnes required in a contractual obligation with its European Union market.The agreement stated that the corporation had a commitment to provide the aforementioned quantity of sugar by September 5.Only 45,China Jerseys Cheap,000 tonnes of sugar were shipped.Whilst Guyana will still supply the remaining 10,000 tonnes, the price will vary, Jackson said.The CEO added that the industrial actions taken by sugar workers during the year gravely affected production by the company.The $300M lost in revenue includes the demurrage on the vessels that was paid.This means that the corporation had to pay a fee for the ships which were hired,Cheap NFL Jerseys, to stay longer than expected in Guyana.Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, has since said that Guyana’s loss of revenue from the sugar industry is of grave concern to government.In an invited comment on the issue, Persaud said that he is very concerned about any loss of actual or potential revenue.At present, he added, the corporation is in a very peculiar financial situation.Due to climate change, Persaud said, the opportunity days presently dwindled from 120 to about 60 to 70 days.An official from the sugar company told Kaieteur News yesterday that the $300M loss is equivalent to about two percent of wage increases.Each percentage of increase adds on $150M to the wages cost, the official said. |
