A performance assessment of a boiler at the Wales sugar estate, which sparked a 10-day strike, is to be done next week to determine whether it is fit to be in operation.

And during this period, Guysuco has set a number of conditions for the workers one of which is for them to harvest today 145 tonnes of stale sugarcane left over from the stormy strike.

The decision, according to Chief Labour Officer, Mohamed Akeel was agreed to by the workers and Guysuco at a meeting he chaired yesterday at the West Bank Demerara estate.

Workers downed tools for 10 days over the controversial number three boiler and were tear-gassed by the police on Tuesday during an illegal march.

Akeel told this newspaper that the monitoring of the chute would commence tomorrow and would end on October 25. He said the workers were complaining that the chute had been breaking down and causing workers to lose earnings under the Weekly Production Incentive (WPI).

“So we will use this one-week period to judge and see whether anything is abnormal with the chute.”

Akeel noted that another meeting was planned for October 28 at which time they would make the final decision with regards to the machine. Akeel said that from his visit yesterday he realised that the new chute, which was installed a few weeks ago, had significantly reduced pollution at the factory. But he noted that the workers’ grievances had nothing to do with pollution.

Akeel said that he was pleased at the level of the workers’ turnout yesterday at the estate. He said the workers were well aware that they had to resume duties Wednesday midnight and all of them did so.

Yesterday when Stabroek News visited Wales it was work as usual; several tractor trailers with sugar cane were being towed off the road into the factory while those that were already in the factory were being ground. Since the workers went on strike the factory had not been producing.

GUYSUCO Industrial Relations Director Jairam Petam told this newspaper that Guysuco accepted the one-week performance assessment proposal on three conditions, one being that there should be no deliberate attempt by workers to slow down the grinding rate. He added that the corporation was expecting normal resumption of cane cutters’ output to ensure that there was an adequate supply of cane and that they must harvest 145 tonnes of stale cane today which had been left in the fields because of the strike. Petam said the corporation had to ensure this happened so that the assessment would be done on fresh cane only.

Petam stated the impact of the strike had been severe noting that for the ten days of the strike 1,800 tonnes of sugarcane were lost.

He said the corporation was hoping to capitalise on the excellent weather conditions. “So now that this strike came at this point we were very disappointed.” Petam said the sides had agreed on a target for the workers to produce 100 tonnes of sugar per hour over the one week. He said while Guysuco was adamant that the factory could achieve the target, the removal of the chute, as called for by the workers, would depend on whether the factory achieved the target. He said if that was not achieved at the end of the week Guysuco would then have to lower the factory’s weekly target for the estate which now stands at 1130 tonnes.

“But I have no doubt that the boiler can produce that amount of sugar. In fact two weeks after the new chute was installed, between the weekends of September 26 and October 3 Wales crushed 1428 tonnes of sugarcane each time.”

He added that the factory had the ability to meets its target, noting that for last year almost every consecutive two weeks it had done so. The workers had 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. They say the new chute 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.

On Tuesday the workers decided to march to the city but around midday police said they were forced to tear-gas them since, in addition to taking part in an illegal procession they attempted to haul a tractor trailer with cane into the middle of the Nismes Public Road. Twelve of the marchers along with television personality CN Sharma were arrested.

The workers were released on Wednesday when they appeared in court.