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FM
Former Member

Wales father of 4 pleads for severance pay

 

1 year later

By Shemuel Fanfair

One year later and workers attached to Wales Sugar Estate, who refused work at Uitvlugt, are increasing their calls for severance pay on the belief that they could use the money to enter new business ventures to provide for themselves and their families. More than that, they have expressed much anger at the fact that they have been waiting since before the West Bank Demerara entity closed its doors on December 31, 2016, while workers at East Demerara and Berbice received their entitled termination benefits within weeks of closure.

Former cane harvester and father of four, Stanley Felix

Skull City squatting area, Patentia resident, Stanley Felix, had 16 years 10 months of service with the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) before he was retrenched in 2016. Speaking with the father of four at a recent job fair to attract dismissed Wales workers and their family members at Patentia last week, the cane harvester in a somber tone, told Guyana Times of the plight that he and his colleagues are facing over the lack of finding consistent employment.
“It really affecting me family real bad because over a year now, me an really working, me an got no job, me an got no income nowhere, me an got no family to give me nothing and I would glad if the President or the Minister them could look into this matter and see exactly what going on with the people in Region Three. I wish if they could give people them money, so they can do something to elevate themselves,” Felix stressed.
The father of four, who has three school aged children, explained that not having employment is greatly affecting his ability to upkeep the education of his offspring; one of whom attends the L’Aventure Secondary in Canal Number One, another at Goed Fortuin Primary and the other at Patentia Secondary. Felix said his financial challenges will increased when his youngest starts school this September. Their ages are 14, 13, nine and three.
“I waiting on my severance since the estate close down in 2016 to now and now is 2018 and I can’t get no proper answer and people who come redundant after we and done get their severance already,” he remarked.
In providing further insight into his plight, the cane harvester explained that at present, the mother of his children is the principle breadwinner, but noted that her earnings at the fisheries are small. According to Felix, his financial situation is affecting his position as a man in the family, a contention which has been shared by other sugar workers.
“It making me feel real bad because for a woman working and a man not working, is really shameful on a man… all of this come because of the closure of the Wales Estate. Since I born, and grow is Wales Estate I know,” Felix told Guyana Times.
“My father worked there and get pension and bring me up from right there so I don’t know if the Government could see what they could do. I want them pay people their severance because people job become redundant and the union and GuySuCo have an agreement, so they should give people them money,” he added. He also noted that he feels disadvantaged in seeking alternative employment as cane harvesting is all he has known.
Several Wales workers and other supporters protested the President’s Office and the High Court on Thursday last demanding their severance. Along with their union, they also called on the Chief Justice to have the matter assigned to a Judge; some 10 months after the Union’s lawyer filed the case. The Wales Estate closure was seen as a cost-saving measure due to billions of dollars that were allocated to the declining sugar industry and nearly 4000 workers from Enmore, Rose Hall and Skeldon were similarly dismissed late last year, as part of moves which Government said would “reorganise” the industry.

https://guyanatimesgy.com/wale...s-for-severance-pay/

Replies sorted oldest to newest

I heard from some one in Wales, the job fair was a sham,a few young school leavers got hired, many came from as far as West Coast and East Bank Demerara. The employers were not looking for older folks, imagine most of the cane cutters are uneducated, some cannot read and write, so they were not eligible for jobs offered. I was told one man went to apply for security guard job, after looking at him, he was told he does not fit the requirements.

 The government should take all the laid off workers and retrain them in the field of Oil and Gas, use the $18M US in a positive way.

K
kp posted:

I heard from some one in Wales, the job fair was a sham,a few young school leavers got hired, many came from as far as West Coast and East Bank Demerara. The employers were not looking for older folks, imagine most of the cane cutters are uneducated, some cannot read and write, so they were not eligible for jobs offered. I was told one man went to apply for security guard job, after looking at him, he was told he does not fit the requirements.

 The government should take all the laid off workers and retrain them in the field of Oil and Gas, use the $18M US in a positive way.

Put them in the GDF. The current crop does nothing and gets paid anyway.

FM
skeldon_man posted:
kp posted:

I heard from some one in Wales, the job fair was a sham,a few young school leavers got hired, many came from as far as West Coast and East Bank Demerara. The employers were not looking for older folks, imagine most of the cane cutters are uneducated, some cannot read and write, so they were not eligible for jobs offered. I was told one man went to apply for security guard job, after looking at him, he was told he does not fit the requirements.

 The government should take all the laid off workers and retrain them in the field of Oil and Gas, use the $18M US in a positive way.

Put them in the GDF. The current crop does nothing and gets paid anyway.

The army does not have vacancy.

K

During it's earlier days before Guyana was independent GAWU had some very successful money generating enterprises. Bags and bags of money were generated from these enterprises and shipped the the PPP party.  Now is the time for GAWU to get back into business and employ several of the laid off sugar workers.

Prashad
Last edited by Prashad
Prashad posted:

During it's earlier days before Guyana was independent GAWU had some very successful money generating enterprises. Bags and bags of money were generated from these enterprises and shipped the the PPP party.  Now is the time for GAWU to get back into business and employ several of the laid off sugar workers.

How.

K
kp posted:

I heard from some one in Wales, the job fair was a sham,a few young school leavers got hired, many came from as far as West Coast and East Bank Demerara. The employers were not looking for older folks, imagine most of the cane cutters are uneducated, some cannot read and write, so they were not eligible for jobs offered. I was told one man went to apply for security guard job, after looking at him, he was told he does not fit the requirements.

 The government should take all the laid off workers and retrain them in the field of Oil and Gas, use the $18M US in a positive way.

One of the thing about the oil industry is they operate on a labor on demand scheme and they have all the laborers across the world ( Indians and Philippinos) that they usually bring in because they need predictable labor force. Guyanese will be relegated to servicing these people and apparently given Granger et al have no plans to develop our society ( they proposed nothing), it appears we can only expect income from oil here. Where Exxon creates its on shore recreation and rest area will soon be surrounded by a rapidly rising slum with bars, hookers and gambling dens and our people will be the entertainment.

FM
D2 posted:
kp posted:

I heard from some one in Wales, the job fair was a sham,a few young school leavers got hired, many came from as far as West Coast and East Bank Demerara. The employers were not looking for older folks, imagine most of the cane cutters are uneducated, some cannot read and write, so they were not eligible for jobs offered. I was told one man went to apply for security guard job, after looking at him, he was told he does not fit the requirements.

 The government should take all the laid off workers and retrain them in the field of Oil and Gas, use the $18M US in a positive way.

One of the thing about the oil industry is they operate on a labor on demand scheme and they have all the laborers across the world ( Indians and Philippinos) that they usually bring in because they need predictable labor force. Guyanese will be relegated to servicing these people and apparently given Granger et al have no plans to develop our society ( they proposed nothing), it appears we can only expect income from oil here. Where Exxon creates its on shore recreation and rest area will soon be surrounded by a rapidly rising slum with bars, hookers and gambling dens and our people will be the entertainment.

Them cane cutters have to learn strip tease dancing.

K
kp posted:
Prashad posted:

During it's earlier days before Guyana was independent GAWU had some very successful money generating enterprises. Bags and bags of money were generated from these enterprises and shipped the the PPP party.  Now is the time for GAWU to get back into business and employ several of the laid off sugar workers.

How.

GAWU was into party promotion and liquor sales at the parties. It may sound like nonsense but it produced bags and bags of cash for the union and the PPP.

Prashad
Prashad posted:

GAWU should buy Rosehall estate and produce Rosehall rum and Rosehall sugar and market it in North America through a North America sugar company.

Not a bad idea but do they have that kind of cash.

K
Prashad posted:

GAWU should buy Rosehall estate and produce Rosehall rum and Rosehall sugar and market it in North America through a North America sugar company.

Rose Hall People lil stupid. Moses fooled them up.

They should do it and Conman Moses will show up and become the CEO of the company. 

FM

Wales to Uitvlugt is app 45mins drive . What’s the big deal with these people . 

These same people would come to North America and travel 2-3 hours , standing in Artic weather for a job and don’t complain. 

Private sectors have lots of work .. these banna don’t want to work . They like hanging out at street corners yapping all day . 

FM
Dave posted:

Wales to Uitvlugt is app 45mins drive . What’s the big deal with these people . 

These same people would come to North America and travel 2-3 hours , standing in Artic weather for a job and don’t complain. 

Private sectors have lots of work .. these banna don’t want to work . They like hanging out at street corners yapping all day . 

Dave, as far as I understand, (please correct me if I am incorrect) the law says that the distance cannot be more than 10miles so the workers are right to expect severance pay. That is the isssue. Workers are exercising their rights.

if these guys were able to get to America, they would have been there and then find out that America is not the land of milk and honey, that they have to travel  a long time to work to pay for the privilege of living in America.

There is not lots of work out there in the private sector. From where are you getting that info? I can pass it around to displaced sugar workers I know. The job fairs are a sham so far, this I understand from people who attended. For the few jobs touted, there was no congruency between the skill sets of workers and the job requirements.

Z
Zed posted:
Dave posted:

Wales to Uitvlugt is app 45mins drive . What’s the big deal with these people . 

These same people would come to North America and travel 2-3 hours , standing in Artic weather for a job and don’t complain. 

Private sectors have lots of work .. these banna don’t want to work . They like hanging out at street corners yapping all day . 

Dave, as far as I understand, (please correct me if I am incorrect) the law says that the distance cannot be more than 10miles so the workers are right to expect severance pay. That is the isssue. Workers are exercising their rights.

if these guys were able to get to America, they would have been there and then find out that America is not the land of milk and honey, that they have to travel  a long time to work to pay for the privilege of living in America.

There is not lots of work out there in the private sector. From where are you getting that info? I can pass it around to displaced sugar workers I know. The job fairs are a sham so far, this I understand from people who attended. For the few jobs touted, there was no congruency between the skill sets of workers and the job requirements.

My cousin from Skeldon would take the Guysuco truck all the way to Rosehall Estate to cut cane.

FM
Dave posted:

Wales to Uitvlugt is app 45mins drive . What’s the big deal with these people . 

These same people would come to North America and travel 2-3 hours , standing in Artic weather for a job and don’t complain. 

Private sectors have lots of work .. these banna don’t want to work . They like hanging out at street corners yapping all day . 

You are hoping these cane cutters own car to drive to work, the cost to travel back and forth is too expensive, further more who wants to transport a filthy cane cutter with a sharp 22.

Most cane cutters leave their homes at 5.00 am or earlier to walk to the sugar factory,then transported by tractor or punts into the back dams to the fields.They start cutting cane as soon as the sun is up and finish some where between 3 to 4 pm, they would reach home the earliest 5 pm, if not much later if they visit the rum shop.

That routine is difficult to change, it's very difficult and hard work.

K
Zed posted:
Dave posted:

Wales to Uitvlugt is app 45mins drive . What’s the big deal with these people . 

These same people would come to North America and travel 2-3 hours , standing in Artic weather for a job and don’t complain. 

Private sectors have lots of work .. these banna don’t want to work . They like hanging out at street corners yapping all day . 

Dave, as far as I understand, (please correct me if I am incorrect) the law says that the distance cannot be more than 10miles so the workers are right to expect severance pay. That is the isssue. Workers are exercising their rights.

if these guys were able to get to America, they would have been there and then find out that America is not the land of milk and honey, that they have to travel  a long time to work to pay for the privilege of living in America.

There is not lots of work out there in the private sector. From where are you getting that info? I can pass it around to displaced sugar workers I know. The job fairs are a sham so far, this I understand from people who attended. For the few jobs touted, there was no congruency between the skill sets of workers and the job requirements.

Zed, when Diamond estate was closed and there is not enough man power to cut cane.. workers were truck as far as Enmore to Diamond. Some of these workers were living at Golden Grove on the east coast. 

I don’t know what the law requires about transporting workers far distances. But Guyana is a lawless country anyway. 

if the sugar industry is not making profit and effort is been made to keep one estate grinding, I will do what ever it takes to put bread and butter on the table for my family ... until I can do better.

We have business in GT and East Coast and it’s a struggle to keep realiable worker. We recently closed an outlet in Parika because of unreliable workers to open the store . 

The biggest problem is Monday morning, you cannot get a full staff . 

Guyanese do not wants  to work, they are lazy. 

They sit at home having taxi delivering restaurant food or pampers for their baby  - I have witness this .  

FM
kp posted:
Dave posted:

Wales to Uitvlugt is app 45mins drive . What’s the big deal with these people . 

These same people would come to North America and travel 2-3 hours , standing in Artic weather for a job and don’t complain. 

Private sectors have lots of work .. these banna don’t want to work . They like hanging out at street corners yapping all day . 

You are hoping these cane cutters own car to drive to work, the cost to travel back and forth is too expensive, further more who wants to transport a filthy cane cutter with a sharp 22.

Most cane cutters leave their homes at 5.00 am or earlier to walk to the sugar factory,then transported by tractor or punts into the back dams to the fields.They start cutting cane as soon as the sun is up and finish some where between 3 to 4 pm, they would reach home the earliest 5 pm, if not much later if they visit the rum shop.

That routine is difficult to change, it's very difficult and hard work.

KP the sugar industry provide its own transportation when the workers assemble at a designated location at their place of employment . 

Workers ride bicycle from Enterprise to Enmore . In some case the trucks picked up workers from Enterprise and transport them to Diamond or LBI . 

FM

My Dad works in the sugar industry for 42 years as a tractor operator. He is alive and share all the memories with us .

Enmore workers used to go to Uitvlugt and as far as Blairmont and so were workers from Blairmont were transported to Enmore . 

FM
Amral posted:

The Guyanese people will never see any better standard of living if oil starts to flow. Is too much thiefing going on with the politicians and their friends 

They promised change a few years ago. 

Now they promised Oil.

What next?

Billy Ram Balgobin
Billy Ram Balgobin posted:
Amral posted:

The Guyanese people will never see any better standard of living if oil starts to flow. Is too much thiefing going on with the politicians and their friends 

They promised change a few years ago. 

Now they promised Oil.

What next?

Do you still  have close relatives living there?

Mitwah
Dave posted:

My Dad works in the sugar industry for 42 years as a tractor operator. He is alive and share all the memories with us .

Enmore workers used to go to Uitvlugt and as far as Blairmont and so were workers from Blairmont were transported to Enmore . 

I born on  Uitvlugt Estate my father ,my grandfather  and myself worked at Uitvlugt Estate. People coming from Enmore to work at Uitvlugt I don't believe that. I know some management staff would come from Georgetown University but for short period.Enmore is way too far for daily commute 

K

Being hire by a Non PPP government army is one thing.  But as an East Indian military person if your spouse is not Afro Guyanese or if you look too much like an East Indian with straight hair then you will stay a private rank forever that is what several East Indian persons in the Guyana armed forces told me in the early 1980s. I asked about this and was told by an Afro Guyanese officer that to get up in the army you have to know how drink beers and interact with the officers at the military clubs after work and because East Indians had nothing in common with the Afro Guyanese officers this was in many cases not possible.   

Prashad
Last edited by Prashad
kp posted:
Dave posted:

My Dad works in the sugar industry for 42 years as a tractor operator. He is alive and share all the memories with us .

Enmore workers used to go to Uitvlugt and as far as Blairmont and so were workers from Blairmont were transported to Enmore . 

I born on  Uitvlugt Estate my father ,my grandfather  and myself worked at Uitvlugt Estate. People coming from Enmore to work at Uitvlugt I don't believe that. I know some management staff would come from Georgetown University but for short period.Enmore is way too far for daily commute 

My dad was the workers rep and he is alive sharing these info with me .😊

FM

Do you how far Enmore is from Uitvlugt, it's over one and half hour. My father was the factory manager he is 92 years  and is alive. Well there would be no cane to cut at the rate of Estate closures. 

K
Prashad posted:

Being hire by a Non PPP government army is one thing.  But as an East Indian military person if your spouse is not Afro Guyanese or if you look too much like an East Indian with straight hair then you will stay a private rank forever that is what several East Indian persons in the Guyana armed forces told me in the early 1980s. I asked about this and was told by an Afro Guyanese officer that to get up in the army you have to know how drink beers and interact with the officers at the military clubs after work and because East Indians had nothing in common with the Afro Guyanese officers this was in many cases not possible.   

Pure BS. I was a GDF officer. There have always been East Indians in the office corps.

A
kp posted:

Do you how far Enmore is from Uitvlugt, it's over one and half hour. My father was the factory manager he is 92 years  and is alive. Well there would be no cane to cut at the rate of Estate closures. 

KP,

Your dad will know Chuwee [his false name]from Leonora,a friend of mine.He was the Blackstone Power Plant Mechanic.

Django
antabanta posted:
Prashad posted:

Being hire by a Non PPP government army is one thing.  But as an East Indian military person if your spouse is not Afro Guyanese or if you look too much like an East Indian with straight hair then you will stay a private rank forever that is what several East Indian persons in the Guyana armed forces told me in the early 1980s. I asked about this and was told by an Afro Guyanese officer that to get up in the army you have to know how drink beers and interact with the officers at the military clubs after work and because East Indians had nothing in common with the Afro Guyanese officers this was in many cases not possible.   

Pure BS. I was a GDF officer. There have always been East Indians in the office corps.

Don't play the r-ss and bend the truth. Name me one kollie that was married to a kollie that became the head of the GDF. 

Prashad
Prashad posted:
antabanta posted:
Prashad posted:

Being hire by a Non PPP government army is one thing.  But as an East Indian military person if your spouse is not Afro Guyanese or if you look too much like an East Indian with straight hair then you will stay a private rank forever that is what several East Indian persons in the Guyana armed forces told me in the early 1980s. I asked about this and was told by an Afro Guyanese officer that to get up in the army you have to know how drink beers and interact with the officers at the military clubs after work and because East Indians had nothing in common with the Afro Guyanese officers this was in many cases not possible.   

Pure BS. I was a GDF officer. There have always been East Indians in the office corps.

Don't play the r-ss and bend the truth. Name me one kollie that was married to a kollie that became the head of the GDF. 

Joe Singh.

K
Prashad posted:
antabanta posted:
Prashad posted:

Being hire by a Non PPP government army is one thing.  But as an East Indian military person if your spouse is not Afro Guyanese or if you look too much like an East Indian with straight hair then you will stay a private rank forever that is what several East Indian persons in the Guyana armed forces told me in the early 1980s. I asked about this and was told by an Afro Guyanese officer that to get up in the army you have to know how drink beers and interact with the officers at the military clubs after work and because East Indians had nothing in common with the Afro Guyanese officers this was in many cases not possible.   

Pure BS. I was a GDF officer. There have always been East Indians in the office corps.

Don't play the r-ss and bend the truth. Name me one kollie that was married to a kollie that became the head of the GDF. 

COS and Force Commander are by presidential appointment. If your koolie PPP wanted koolie COS and FC all they had to do was appoint accordingly. Your post was that East Indian persons in the Guyana military will always remain privates which is pure BS. You do know what a private is... right?

A

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