Sugar workers from four estates picketed on Monday to demand that GuySuCo remit savings deducted from their wages, with the GAWU Cooperative Credit Union warning that the outstanding payments have left it facing a severe liquidity crisis.
In a statement today, the credit union said the corporation had been deducting savings from workers’ weekly wages since March without transferring the money to the society.
It accused GuySuCo of failing to honour repeated commitments, including a written undertaking on August 27 to pay half of the outstanding sum.
“Not a single dollar from the promised payment has been made,” the statement said.
The union said GuySuCo was using workers’ savings to cover operational shortfalls and stressed that the money belonged to employees who had set aside part of their wages for their families.
“These funds do not belong to the Corporation; they represent the hard-earned savings of workers, who sacrifice part of their wages week after week to save for their families’ future,” it stated.
According to the society, the failure to remit the deductions has prevented workers from accessing money needed for school fees, medical bills and household expenses. It said the resulting liquidity shortage threatened its ability to provide financial assistance to thousands of workers and their families.
The credit union called on GuySuCo’s management and board to immediately release the funds and urged Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha and the government to intervene.
The dispute comes amid continued financial support for the state-owned sugar corporation. Kiskadee Watch reported in September that the government’s Mid-Year Report increased support for GuySuCo from $13.4 billion to $16.4 billion, while revising its annual production target from 100,000 tonnes to 70,401 tonnes—a reduction of almost 30%.
GuySuCo produced 19,031 tonnes during the first crop, compared with an initial target of 29,376 tonnes, the report noted.
The withholding of credit union deductions has also arisen previously. Stabroek News reported in May 2015 that the society asked GuySuCo to stop deducting savings from workers’ earnings after the corporation failed to remit approximately $154.4 million accumulated over five months. Promised payments had not materialised, the credit union said then.
By June 2015, Stabroek News reported that 1,321 members had sought withdrawals amid concern about the outstanding money. Then GAWU head Komal Chand said the amount owed had risen to approximately $188 million and that withdrawal requests were being honoured.
Delayed remittances were again noted in a December 2020 Stabroek News report, although the society said at that time that it remained financially sound.
In its latest statement, the credit union said the continued withholding of workers’ savings was unacceptable and causing significant hardship. It demanded prompt payment of the outstanding deductions.
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