At a very well attended public meeting at Buckleys, The Peoples Action Movements Political Leader Lindsay Grant called on the sugars workers to demand a better package for their years of hard work in the industry from the Labour Government.
The large crowd was asked to remember the reasoning behind the Buckleys riot in 1932 where worker demanded their one cent pay raise. Now that the industry is dead and Labour is having a requiem mass for the workers, they must rise up from the dead and demand at least one acre of land to be buried with and not 6ft at Springfield Cemetery.
Speaker after speaker spoke about the recklessness in which the Labour Government is selling off the land to white foreigners at dirt cheap prices, while the same lands which Premier Robert Bradshaw adversely possessed without title and left up to Sir Kennedy Simmonds to pay for and obtain title in the name of poor black people, are being sold to us at a bam & co. price or not at all.
The energetic crowd that braved the inclement weather was reminded of the bold and forthcoming approach that Lindsay Grant and the Peoples Action Movement took in 2003 when they announced that the sugar industry will be closed upon forming the Government. During which time the sugar workers were told of the package that PAM will give to each and every worker in the industry:
1. A guarantied salary for up to three years
2. Severance payment in amounts equal too $40,000.00 thru $100.00.00
3. 3 to 5 acres of land depending on length of service
4. Retraining
The political leader Mr. Lindsay Grant told the Buckleys sugar workers that they deserve better treatment and called on them to demand more from the Labour Government and the Labour Union.
The sugar workers were also reminded of the incident regarding the Curtis Mathis Cooperation which under the Labour Administration, closed down and left the workers high and dry with absolutely nothing. It was caring Sir Kennedy Simmonds PAM government that upon assuming office in 1980 instituted the Employment Protection Act, thus giving local workers some protection against exploitation and heartless employers.
PAM was good in the past and is best for the future of the sugar workers and the country. Long live the sugar workers of this country! Long live the Peoples Action Movement!
