THE local sugar industry is in deep trouble as the time for the European Union (EU) to end quotas draws nigh, and local trade unions representing the workers fear hundreds of jobs will be sacrificed in a late move to transform the operations to meet the challenges.

Sugar prices on the world market, which fell by some US23 cents per pound last year, continue to dip. Prices fell from US14.5 cents per pound in January to US10.67 cents in August. And, with all local producers trying to get in on the domestic market to cut their losses, it probably won’t be long before there is a glut in supermarkets.

In the meantime, mass meetings of sugar workers, some of whom have had either their positions made redundant or have been laid off for more than the stipulated time, have begun to pop up at factories and estates in the sugar areas, and the trade unions are demanding meetings with the owners to get a better understanding of how they plan to deal with the problem.

Trade union leaders say they are experiencing increasing restiveness among workers, as rumours run wild through the cane fields, and signs of impending redundancies spread across factory floors.

“Contrary to the expectations at the time of divestment of the factories, it is not looking so promising,” University and Allied Workers Union (UAWU) First Vice-President Clifton Grant said, in assessing the situation confronting the three estates run by Chinese investor Pan Caribbean Sugar Company (PCSC) — Bernard Lodge, Monymusk and Frome.

After making over 200 positions redundant last December at Bernard Lodge in St Catherine, PCSC laid off more than 400 workers at Monymusk in Clarendon for two weeks, but almost four weeks later the workers are still off the job.

The unions say that they have been unable to meet with the management of PCSC since the lay-offs, in order to get a better understanding of the future of the Monymusk operations.

Deputy Island Supervisor of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) Hanif Brown said that it is getting to the stage where “workers’ resistance is reaching fever pitch”.

“It is 10 weeks to the start of crop and no preparations are being made. News on the ground is that they are planning to close the factory and send the cane to Frome, Appleton and Worthy Park to be processed. We have been seeking a meeting for the past two weeks to get a full understanding of the plans, without success,” Brown said.

The Jamaica Observer was unable to get a response from PCSC.

Brown also had a grouse about Golden Grove in St Thomas, where more than 500 positions were made redundant in August. He claimed that the workers’ redundancy payments were calculated at a lower rate than they were expecting.

Brown is also concerned that, despite making the jobs redundant, Golden Grove has not stated which contractor is going to take over the cultivation of the cane, raising doubts about whether the workers can reasonably expect to be re-employed soon by a new contractor.

Grant confirmed that there are also problems at the former Wray and Nephew Limited-owned estates — Appleton, St Elizabeth and New Yarmouth, Clarendon — which, combined with Holland Estate, St Elizabeth, cover some 22,000 acres of land responsible for 63 per cent of all spirits produced in Jamaica.

The UAWU spokesman said that the Campari-owned estates summoned the unions to a meeting last week to tell them of a loss of $1.5 billion on their 2014/15 crop.

“They said that based on current projections they expect to lose close to $1.8 billion on the operations in the upcoming crop and will have to start restructuring soon, which will result in job losses,” Grant said.

The unions are also seeking a meeting with the management of Everglades Farms Limited, which owns the former Hampden and Long Pond estates in Trelawny. The estates were acquired by the Hussey family in 2009 through divestment procedures of the Jamaica Sugar Company assets owned by the Government.

Although a commitment by Everglades Farm to pump some US$6.2 million (over J$700 million) into the Long Pond and Hampden sugar estates brought renewed hope to the parish, it has already been reported that the owners are now contemplating closing the Long Pond factory and keeping the Hampden rum distillery open.

Everglades is supplied by 270 independent farmers, while the company employs 800 people — 200 at the factories and 600 in the fields.

Brown said that he does not expect Everglades to operate during the 2015/16 crop, as its canes are likely to be sent to Appleton and Worthy Park.

“We had a meeting and they said that they are awaiting a response from the Government to certain proposals they have made,” he explained.

He said he blames the investors for failing to transform the operations after taking them over four years ago.

“They didn’t do the necessary transformation while they had access to the special EU prices, and now the price is falling rapidly they want to blame everything on the workers,” Brown said.

He said that he is hoping for a meeting with Pan Caribbean by Friday to discuss the future of the Monymusk workers, who are becoming too restive to control.