COSTLY STRIKE

PORTVALE?FACTORY stands to lose about $300 000 if the strike called there yesterday does not end to allow the factory to restart grinding by Monday.
What’s more, the sugar industry itself will lose an estimated $144 000 a day from the work stoppage, while cane cutters, loaders, tractor drivers and other field workers may go unpaid next week.
These are just some of the consequences the industry faces following the strike action called by the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) against the Barbados Agricultural Management Company (BAMC) over the redundancy of 57 workers from Andrews Sugar Factory.
Last night, industry officials revealed that as the procedure for closing down the St James factory for Easter, as per usual, is a gradual process, if the factory did not get back to work by Monday, then effectively it would be unable to start working until Tuesday, April 22.
This would mean that burnt cane standing in the fields as well as cane already cut would be lost. Also, as the shutdown was sudden, the clarifiers filled with juice, pans filled with sugar and evaporators with syrup would be lost. These factory losses could add up to $300 000, an industry source said.