Industry strike will force Guysuco to temporarily cease all operations, except in cases of essential services

LBI, East Coast Demerara – The Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc.(Guysuco), this afternoon said the company is disappointed and disheartened at the decision by the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) to have its members stage yet another industry-wide strike, commencing from today, until Thursday, November 25 2010. The Corporation views this move as a most callous and blatant disregard for the current state of the sugar industry. Such a move will undoubtedly question how serious the union and by extension their members are in saving the industry which has provided for them over the years. This morning however, all estates reported an almost total shutdown and it was confirmed by the union that the strike will last another six days. With this action, the coperation will lose siapproximately 2,000 punts of canes or nearly 12,000 tonnes canes that could have been processed to make 1,000 tonnes sugar were burnt yesterday, and are now being left to perish in the fields. The Corporation has noted GAWU’s sole focus this time around is apparently on the Skeldon factory and the technical challenges which have affected its operations.