CONTRACTS COMING

Sugar workers remain wary that the 2024 harvest will start on time, the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) has said, while expressing confidence that the historic season will be a success.

Doubts persist that the newly cooperative-owned sugar factory will begin grinding next week and may be delayed another month, missing the cane’s prime readiness to maximise sugar output, Barbados TODAY has learned.

BWU deputy general secretary Dwaine Paul gave an upbeat assessment following talks this week with the new management of the sugar industry. Despite the new owners’ inexperience with sugar production and the imperfections of the divestment process, he said the Barbados Energy and Sugar Company Limited (BESCO) was capable of pulling off a successful harvest.

But, Paul said mill workers were wary about the actual commencement of the harvest season even as officials predicted sugarcane fields would be busy next week.

During the Estimates Debates in Parliament, chairman of the state-owned Barbados Agricultural Management Company (BAMC) Dr Clyde Mascoll said that based on the results of recently tested canes, next week the stalks would be in the ideal condition to produce optimal levels of juice.

Some Portvale factory workers have told Barbados TODAY that the island’s last operational mill would not be ready in time.

“The work on the boilers will not be finished in time to start the crop next week; it would be impossible,” one worker said. “Rightfully, we are looking for the crop to start in April because once the tubes are in, you have to pressure test the boilers to make sure there is no leakage and we have to get the steam trials going.”

Paul said the union had talks with BAMC management and the mill’s new owner on Thursday about outstanding issues, including a start date.

“We are uncertain as to the date the crop would start. The information put forward to us by the workers indicated that they needed to get several things done quickly,” he told Barbados TODAY on Friday. “In yesterday’s meeting, we raised that with management and they indicated that they were working with the team to get things ready; they were also monitoring the sucrose levels of the canes as well to make sure that we can have the date [of the crop] set and to be able to go forward as soon as we can.”

Paul said a delay was expected because the divestment occurred on the eve of the harvest on December 17 last year, with the new owners starting operations on January 15 this year.

The Barbados Sustainable Energy Cooperative Society Ltd (Co-op Energy) took over the business of BAMC, with subsidiary BESCO managing the factory and the Agricultural Business Company Limited (ABC) operating the former BAMC farms.

Paul said: “In that transition, obviously, there are issues of supplies, there are issues of equipment to be brought in to deal with the work, and then obviously to get the guys all engaged to come back out would have . . . been seen as being behind the eight ball at that point in time . . . . So it should not be surprising to anyone that we are still working to have things ready.”

The sugar workers also raised concerns about their employment status as they queried how the harvest could begin if contractual issues were not resolved.

When the workers were rehired under the new management in January, they received temporary contracts, but, Paul said, new contracts would soon be issued.

“In the meeting, management of BESCO made it clear that the employment of workers at BESCO and ABC, it was not a matter of temporary employment and that the workers that have returned to date are all workers that the company is seeking to retain to build out the industry and to revitalise the industry; they’re all going to be permanent employees. The issue of a short-term contract was to simply allow the incoming management team to have an understanding of the operations because they’re taking over a new business and they moved swiftly to issue contracts to the workers, given that our (the union’s) call was to have the workers given documents of employment.

“I can inform you that the workers will shortly be issued with documents that would speak to and clarify any misconception as relates to the nature of their employment, that they will be given correspondence shortly to clearly indicate that they are indeed full-time.”

Under the new ownership, the sugar workers will have shares in both companies and Paul said that management will be having discussions with the workers to set up terms and conditions, job descriptions and benefits. He said, therefore, that unlike the negotiation process in the past where management only met with the union to talk about employee conditions and issues for the 16-week harvest, negotiations will be a continuous exercise as the sugar workers now have short-term and long-term arrangements to flesh out.

“So what’s happening in the negotiation process is we’re doing two things. We are dealing with the short-term discussions in terms of what needs to be addressed immediately to have the crop up and running. So we’re dealing with issues of contracts, we are finalising the issues surrounding things like how we deal with shift premiums and these different immediate things so that the workers have a clear understanding of exactly how they will operate for this crop season. But outside of that, we have to now deal with the new arrangement where we have to put agreements in place and understandings to deal with the new structure where the workers are now part owners,” Paul explained.

“So it’s not a traditional negotiation, but it’s now more of a partnership where we’re working through the different components of how we set up, how we operate and how we go forward. It’s going to be dealt with in phases. The initial phase is to try to deal with the initial issues raised . . . and we move from there. We have to deal with conversations, for example, around share issues and the investment side of how things are going to run and the whole gamut of how we restructure the industry.”

The BWU official added that he was confident this year’s harvest would be successful.

“We hold the view that it should be a successful crop. There are a number of things that have to be worked out in terms of how we go forward, but I’m mindful that it should be a successful crop. We are obviously delayed . . . . It is not ideal but if we look at how the crop has started in the last few years, we are still within the window in terms of how it started in previous years.”

As it relates to severance pay, none of the rehired workers and those who were not retained had received their monies. Paul said, “the matter is being discussed with the National Insurance and Social Security Service. All the relevant paperwork has been finalised”.

Asked to shed light on the number of sugar workers that were rehired, he said: “I know that people have raised concerns about staff members who have not returned to the industry, but there are different reasons why people have not returned to the industry. Some people have opted not to return, some people have not been re-engaged at this point in time because the company is still looking at what it is in terms of the requirements and what work is available, and some people have opted to delay their return . . . . But generally, what we’ve been able to confirm so far is that the majority of the staff are back. The staff complement at the factory is over 100.”

The union leader said a meeting will be held with workers next week to give them updates and clarify misunderstandings.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb