Sugar crisis: Chaos, confusion as industry transition nears

by Sheria Brathwaite

Controversy and mass confusion spiralled in the sugar industry on Friday as scores of workers were turned back when they went to collect their severance papers from the Barbados Agricultural Management Company Co. Ltd (BAMC) while officials set Tuesday for the co-operative movement’s takeover.

Amid charges of poor communication by the sugar workers’ representatives, no officials from either the state-owned enterprise, its government overseer or the energy cooperative that is set to run the industry were available to comment on the development, with the looming sugar harvest around the corner in the new year.

The incident prompted the Deputy General Secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) Dwaine Paul to declare that sugar’s transition into an energy industry was being jeopardised by poor communication, a lack of transparency and an atmosphere of uncertainty.

A joint notice by BAMC and the takeover firms, the Agricultural Business Company Ltd. (ABC), and Barbados Energy and Sugar Company Inc. (BESC), said that effective on Tuesday, the agricultural business previously managed by the state-owned BAMC would be taken over by ABC. The statement clarified that the production of sugar, its by-products, the sale of sugar, and the operations of the Portvale factory, all formerly under BAMC, would now be handled by BESC.

The notice specified that the ABC office would be located at the old Bulkeley Sugar Factory in St George, while BESC would operate from the Portvale mill in Blowers, St James. The BAMC office would remain at Warrens, St Michael.

But chaos ensued at Portvale on Friday morning as several factory workers arrived to collect their severance papers, only to be turned away, due to delays in completing necessary paperwork by the accounts and human resource departments. There are about 140 weekly and monthly paid workers at Portvale.

Tempers flared and visibly upset workers told Barbados TODAY they were told to return on Monday to collect the paperwork.
They said: “Supervisory, foremen and office staff were instructed to hand in their keys and remove personal belongings by Thursday evening with the understanding that pay in lieu of notice, vacation pay for those with outstanding vacation, and severance letters were to be issued on Friday.

“We were told [by] our union representatives that redundancies took effect the 18th of December so that means our last day of work would be Friday; so we came to collect the papers. Workers showed up around 7 a.m. and after a while, we realised that no management was on site. We then received word after 10 a.m. to come on Monday because the accounts and human resource departments had not completed the relevant paperwork.”

In an attempt to get more answers, some workers visited BAMC headquarters to speak to the chief executive officer Orlanda Atherley but they said they were not told anything further.

Both Atherley and Portvale factory manager Marlon Munroe declined to comment on the confusion.

A meeting took place on Friday among BAMC managers, state officials, and the parent of ABC and BESC, the Barbados Sustainable Energy Co-operative Society Limited (Co-op Energy), Barbados TODAY has learned. But there have been no comments from Co-op Energy’s president or Ambassador Dr Clyde Mascoll, chief economic counsellor to the Minister of Finance, who has been overseeing the talks for the government.

Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir could not be reached for comment.

Paul warned that the transition could be in jeopardy, affecting the handover point and potentially leading to a failed transition.
“….This would create unnecessary problems for the industry and put workers in a position where they are ill-advised because of the withholding of information and thereby would have to make decisions based on whatever information they have. We are not going to sit down and tell workers what we do not know. So our concern is that we are failing the workers in what was supposed to be a move to save the industry for the same workers,” he said.

The BWU official explained that redundancy was supposed to be part of a transition and workers were now uncertain about their future.

“It is supposed to be that workers are only ending the relationship with the BAMC because we are transitioning the business. You are going to create a situation where workers start to believe that something is amidst. So the workers just feel that they are being severed and that is it.

“The transition is not clear. The focus of these conversations was transition not redundancy; however, the conversations seem to be hammered or entered heavily on the issue of redundancy. Worse yet, they are not sharing clear details of the redundancy compensation,” he said.

“We would have expected that you are going to have two conversations simultaneously where you will be sharing about the process for wrapping up of operations on the BAMC while being told about and seeing documentation coming forth from the entity that is to take over the operations.”

Paul demanded relevant information about the transition.

“We do not have it [the information] and we need it. It was committed to us by the chairman in the preliminary meetings. However, as we are getting into the implementation stage, we do not have it,” he stressed.

The confusion surrounding the transition could also delay the run-up to the next harvest, as negotiations with private farmers and other officials have yet to begin, according to Paul.

The farmers, represented by the Barbados Sugar Industries Ltd (BSIL), expressed a desirefor the harvest to start no later than February 15, adding to the urgency of resolving the ongoing uncertainties in the industry.

The BWU was joined by the Sugar Industries Staff Association (SISA) in expressing concern about the lack of clarity regarding the transition.

SISA President Dwight Miller highlighted the need for clarity on the rehiring process and its timeline, particularly in light of the impending harvest.

“Apart from the redundancies, [the workers] want to know about the rehiring process because, in the long term, people would want a job. We don’t know if this process would take a month, two weeks or so. So people want to be settled in their mind as to the time period,” he said.

“Also, you have to consider the pressure from the back end as you would need to have a 2024 sugar harvest, which starts around the end of February. So in workers’ minds, timings are very tight.”

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb