Workers miffed by new contract, delaying sugar crop start

by Ryan Gilkes and Shamar Blunt

Hopes for an early start of the 2024 sugar harvest – the maiden crop for the cooperative-owned sugar industry – may have been dashed amid contract issues between the new owners, the Barbados Energy and Sugar Company Limited (BESCO) and the Agricultural Business Company Limited (ABC), and their workers.

Deputy General Secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) Dwaine Paul voiced concerns on Tuesday evening following a meeting with over 70 workers. He told reporters the meeting in the Hugh Springer Auditorium of the BWU’s Solidarity House headquarters was able to shed light on pressing matters that demand immediate attention.

At the end of last year, the former state-owned enterprise, the Barbados Agricultural Management Company (BAMC), was divested to ABC and BESCO, after months of discussions between their parent, Barbados Sustainable Energy Cooperative Society Ltd (CoopEnergy Barbados) and BAMC regarding the government’s sell-off and exit from the sugar industry.

Paul said: “The staff are still concerned as it relates to matters of contract, timely payment of salaries and wages, and the matter of health and safety within the plant that need urgent attention, and the provision of safety equipment. The workers have also expressed their concern that although they have heard from members of management and have had some assurances, some coming from the office of the Minister of Agriculture, this has not yet translated into action on the ground of BESCO.

“The union, therefore, based on the information provided, will be requesting meetings with the management of BESCO to thrash out the concerns put by the workers and to deal with the matters of contracts which, in the workers’ view, are incomplete and do not speak to the full terms and conditions that they would have expected to see on re-engagement. And they believe by not having such conditions, that is a breach or a violation of what they understood would be the re-engagement process for workers of the industry.”

Paul revealed the union would be holding talks with BESCO’s management to address workers’ concerns and ensure that terms and conditions are clarified before any commitment to the upcoming crop.

He said: “The starting [of the] crop depends on getting the matters resolved. I believe that is the way it normally works. We can’t commit the workers to anything unless the workers are comfortable. The manufacturing process for sugar is not a straightforward one. It involves a lot of commitment from workers. And it’s an environment that is very challenging and therefore, to make sure that we have the best outcome, you need to make sure that the workers’ interests are looked after.

“What is interesting to note is that the workers have pointed out that they are supposed to be now the owners of the industry, and if they’re supposed to be owners in the industry, then the treatment handed out to them must also reflect the fact that they’re supposed to be owners of the industry, and not to simply be left out of information, left out of communication and not being spoken to as persons coming into that right of ownership in the industry.”

When asked about the potential impact on the crop’s start date, Paul refrained from using the term “jeopardise” but acknowledged the real issues at hand.

“The general aim is to try to start a crop usually about February, late February, early March best, and based on the reports that we have, it’s going to call for a very dedicated effort to be able to make that timeline at this point in time. But, as I said, no official date has been given but we know that the sweet spot, as the farmers would say, would be February in terms of starting the process,” the senior union official said.

Although acknowledging that the industry was already behind schedule, complicating efforts to meet the typical February-March timeframe for starting the crop, he said that “the issues pertaining to the workers are real and, therefore, we have to find resolution”.

“It’s unfortunate that the conversations that we’re having at this point were not possible last year. But that aside, the union is committed on behalf of the workers to going forward. I have seen as best as we can, as swiftly as we can to address the issues to be able to have them settled so that they can really focus their attention on what they do best in terms of making sure we have a successful sugar crop in 2024,” he added.

Paul said most of the workers that attended the meeting were working under BESCO and they are the ones primarily affected at this time.

“Workers on the ABC side are being brought back in as we speak, so that process is not completed from the information we have received . . . . I believe the focus is on the factory and getting the factory started which is under BESCO up and running because we are in a time-sensitive period.”

Paul expressed optimism that within the coming days, “we should be able to request and have a meeting with the leadership of the industry to be able to table, address and resolve these issues in a way that will see us remain on track for the 2024 crop”.

“I see that from the backdrop that at this stage, we are also a little behind the game because regardless of what happened in the transition, the fact [is] we are at a point now where we are late into February and we still have a lot of work to be done,” he added.

The BWU official also acknowledged that discussions with independent farmers were yet to get underway, adding another layer of complexity to the situation.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, one official close to the talks expressed optimism. President of the Sugar Industries Staff Association (SISA) Dwight Miller told reporters the contract talks were progressing smoothly.

At a Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB) press conference earlier in the day, he said that although only a skeleton crew of 145 workers returned in January, the transition has “generally been occurring smoothly”.

“Like any process, there has been teething problems,” said Miller who confirmed that the workers flagged concerns about the contracts to the union. “But through dialogue with employees and the new management, they have been able to get most of those contracts basically sorted out to the satisfaction of both management and the employees. That has been a plus going forward for the workers.”

Field and factory workers were “glad to be back at work, and to be functioning in a new environment, and having a new ethos in terms of going forward”, the SISA boss said.

“We are anxious to see how the 2024 sugar harvest will go and how this new management will be able to corral the workers during this period. I am hopeful that [issues] will be resolved before the start of the sugar harvest. So far, the dialogue that workers have been having with management has been pretty cordial. I am hoping that as long as that continues, then we should be able to get a resolution to any issues that are outstanding.” (RG/SB)