Striking sugar workers at the Wales estate are expected back on the job today as renewed efforts are made to settle a grouse over machinery that led to the police tear-gassing an illegal march on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Labour’s Chief Labour Officer, Mohamed Akeel told this newspaper that at a meeting yesterday with Guysuco and officials from GAWU along with some fifteen workers’ representatives, the sides were able to iron out the terms of resumption. He said today another meeting was planned at which time the issue in regard to the Number 3 boiler, which had been breaking down and causing workers to lose earnings under the Weekly Production Incentive scheme (WPI) would be dealt with. Akeel is also expected to visit the factory and inspect the source of the problem himself.

Meanwhile, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) has strongly criticised the police tear-gassing of the workers during a march along the West Bank of Demerara on Tuesday.

All twelve workers who were arrested following the illegal march on Tuesday were set free yesterday at the Leonora Magistrate’s Court when they appeared before Principal Magistrate, Oscar Parvatan. Some of the workers were fined $7,000 for their part in the march while others were sent home on self-bail. Television presenter, CN Sharma, who had been in the vicinity of the marchers and who had been briefly locked up, is now home and did not appear in court. An official at CNS Channel Six told this newspaper that Sharma had fallen ill while in the lock ups at Leonora on Tuesday afternoon and was allowed to see a doctor. It is unclear if he will be charged later.

Police around midday on Tuesday said they were forced to tear-gas a band of about 300 marchers who in addition to taking part in an illegal procession attempted to haul a tractor trailer with cane into the middle of the Nismes Public Road.

But a GAWU press release has strongly protested the police actions saying in principle it would never support the use of extreme force of any type against any category of workers demonstrating for their rights to be heard.

The release added that in this particular case the union was of the firm view that the Wales workers’ march, though illegal, did not at the time constitute the type of threatening or disorderly behaviour to warrant the use of teargas.

“In that context GAWU cannot help but recall other instances over the past two years, when the most disruptive, violence-prone demonstrations, both illegal and permitted were allowed to proceed unmolested in Georgetown. No teargas was used even when the sympathisers of criminal elements, blocked roadways and bridges and terrorised innocent citizens,” the release stated.

The union also questioned whether similar action would have been taken if the protestors were in Georgetown. The union is calling on the police to admit that its actions represented a glaring inconsistency.

The workers have been on strike since Tuesday of last week calling for the removal of a new chute installed to feed bagasse into the Number 3 boiler of the factory. The workers are claiming that the chute is restricting the factory’s output of sugar.

Guysuco Industrial Relations Officer, Jairam Petam said the strike at Wales had severely crippled the corporation’s production. He said since last week Tuesday all the cane harvesters and a greater part of the factory, totalling approximately 750 workers at the estate, downed tools demanding the removal of the chute. Petam noted that despite claims that they were not being able to earn the WPI in the ninth week, for this second crop to date, Wales had achieved its WPI target twice.

The workers are claiming that the new chute which was imported from India was not efficient, since it was only 12 feet by 14 feet whereas the old manual chute was 28 feet by 18 feet. The workers are also concerned about management’s decision to deploy on a 24-hour basis a generator which consumes about 45 gallons of diesel per hour. The workers feel that if the boiler was working efficiently there would have been no need to use a generator.

A GAWU source yesterday told this newspaper that prior to the workers’ action, they had been meeting with the factory manager on the performance of the chute.

The source said the workers’ representatives and the factory manager had agreed to give some time for the problem to be corrected.

The source maintained that the strike started without the grievance being placed in the hands of GAWU at the central level for representation to the Industrial Relations Department of Guysuco.

When Stabroek News visited Wales yesterday the factory had ground to a halt. Scores of office staff could be seen sitting outside, while some of the factory workers took up seats in front of the estate on the Wales Public Road.

A boiler operator told Stabroek News that some of the workers turned up briefly yesterday before they split up into groups; some joining their representatives who attended the meeting with Akeel and others going to the Leonora Magistrate’s Court to support their jailed colleagues.

A long line of trailers laden with sugar cane was left stranded along the West Bank Public Road. One observer said the situation was worse at the estate itself since all of the sugar cane already harvested had been left in the open. He observed that some of the cane had begun to rot while others had become mildewed.