Striking sugar workers of Albion estate on Monday stoned their general manager and burned tyres on the public road as their protest over an increase in their weekly production target turned nasty.

The strike was eventually called off yesterday morning but some workers who apparently did not know this continued to protest.

General Manager Aaron Dukhia was standing at the back of a Land Rover addressing workers when a hail of stones was hurled at him, some hitting him on his head.

Contacted on the matter, Industrial Relations Director of Guysuco, Jairam Petam told Stabroek News Dukhia suffered abrasions to his forehead and other parts of his body. However, he received medical attention and was back on the job yesterday.

The protest continued yesterday with the demonstrators blocking bridges and roads, burning electrical poles and holding up traffic. Several children were prevented from going to school while the police were kept busy.

The strike by the workers at Albion began on January 31 following an announcement by management of an increase in the weekly production target by ten tonnes from 2,165 to 2,175. This was reduced the next day by five tonnes and on Monday by eight. However, the workers and their union had demanded that Guysuco reduce the figure by ten tonnes or they would continue to strike.

Petam told Stabroek News that the strike was called off yesterday morning at a meeting between Guysuco and the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers' Union (GAWU) which was chaired by Chief Labour Officer, Mohamed Akeel. He said at the meeting Akeel proposed that Guysuco drop nine of the ten tonnes it had planned to increase the estate's weekly target by. He said both sides accepted the proposal, noting however that Guysuco had already acceded to the workers' demands and reduced the target by eight. He said yesterday both Guysuco and GAWU signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which outlined that the strike be called off with immediate effect and for the workers to return to work.

Petam told Stabroek News that on signing the MOU, he communicated the position to the management of the estate, but the workers ignored everything and continued to march through the streets, blocked two of the roads, burned electrical poles and threw debris on the road.

Petam said the corporation was very disturbed at the behaviour of the workers, adding that at no time did Guysuco appear to be hostile to the workers, but instead compromised thrice and lowered the target by eight tonnes.

Relating Monday's stoning incident, Petam said the workers had summoned Dukhia to discuss the corporation's reason for increasing the target. According to Petam, while Dukhia was delivering his explanation a few misguided workers threw stones. Once the meeting was disturbed, the workers took to the streets. Stabroek News understands that police ranks on duty were able to identify Dukhia's attackers and charges are likely to be laid shortly.

Meanwhile, yesterday the workers burnt tyres at the entrance to the estate. However, police succeeded in removing the tyres and tree trunks which were set alight at the junction of the Corentyne highway and the access road to the estate. The workers then moved further down the access road and blocked the entrances to Chesney and Topo villages. Around 5 pm yesterday, they finally dispersed.

Dukhia criticised the police's handling of the demonstration. He said they could have done more to prevent workers from blocking the roads and burning tyres. He was also concerned that the workers were allowed to move to other areas without the police even attempting to get them off the street.

General Secretary of GAWU Seepaul Narine, who, along with other union representatives, travelled to Albion on Monday, held discussions with workers at Hampshire. The GAWU team also hosted a live call-in programme on the television to clear the air on certain misconceptions.

Speaking to Stabroek News, Narine said there were indications that some of the workers were misled and had not been properly informed of the corporation's position. He dismissed criticism from some quarters that his union was not doing enough for the workers.

The Albion factory was virtually shut down for the past 11 days. The workers said they were opposed to the increase in the target since it could have resulted in them losing their weekly production incentive.

Petam had told this newspaper that an increase in the target was usually influenced by three factors: cane yields, performance of the factory and the quality of cane produced. He said the increase could be based solely on one of these factors or sometimes all three. He noted that in the case of Albion all three factors were favourable, adding that cane yield improved significantly last year. Petam was also adamant that the revised target is achievable noting that on a normal grinding week Albion would surpass that target. He said if you remove the first and the final week of the last crop, the factory achieved the revised target 11 times.

He argued too that for last year the estate's weekly target average for the first crop was 2,419 metric tonnes, while for the second crop it was 2,232 metric tonnes.