Guyana court orders talks with sugar worker unions
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Guyana’s high court has filed a temporary order halting the Guyana Sugar Corp’s plans to fire or transfer 1,000 workers from its money-losing Wales Estate.
The court said late Friday that the company cannot move ahead until it negotiates with the labor unions representing the workers.
The unions have alleged the company excluded them from talks in an attempt to exploit and manipulate the workers.
Wales Estate is to be closed at year’s end after a second sugar crop is harvested.
The company has said the sugar estate will lose $12 million in 2016.
Guyana Sugar Corp is the largest producer among four remaining sugar exporters in the 15-nation Caribbean common market, selling nearly 170,000 metric tons annually to the European Union. The others are Jamaica, Belize and Barbados.
