Government’s decision to revitalise Co-operatives should be viewed as an opportunity for sugar workers to pool their resources and form businesses.

This is the view of Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection, Keith Scott. Scott made the comments during a meeting with a delegation from the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF) recently.

At that meeting the IUF delegation led by its General Secretary, Sue Longley.
expressed much concern about the well-being of sugar workers who were recently made redundant as a result of the down-sizing of the sugar sector here. Government has taken a decision to consolidate production within the industry in an effort to preserve the sector which has been ailing for years.

In fact, government has poured approximately $32B into the industry over the past 30 months. Scott told the visiting delegation that it is within that context that co-operatives can be seen. He stressed that while the sugar industry remains a vital economic sector for Guyana, its ailing nature could not be ignored by his administration.

The minister within the Ministry of Social Protection made it clear that sugar is deeply rooted in the country’s history, and his administration will take all requisite steps to ensure that it is preserved and the welfare of those affected is safeguarded. Last week some $1.931B was passed in the National Assembly to pay out severance to affected workers. That aside, government has already been involved in assisting the sugar workers with training as well as facilitating the borrowing of loans.

The Board of Industrial Training (BIT) has been conducting training in several areas such as engineering, building-masonry, carpentry, information and communication technology, forestry, home economics and health services. The Ministry of Natural Resources along with other stakeholders will provide additional training opportunities with a focus on oil and gas.

The Social Protection Ministry’s micro-credit unit located on Lamaha and East Street can also be of assistance to affected sugar workers, as the unit provides micro-financing for start-up projects.

Meanwhile, Scott told the IUF delegates that government has been pushing to maintain co-operatives as the third pillar of national economic development and noted that there is an ongoing process to develop new co-operative ventures. This, he said, can be seen as an opportunity for sugar workers to get into entrepreneurial ventures. “I am prepared to go to any place, to develop Guyana; community by community.”