Veteran trade unionist Lincoln Lewis has questioned the government’s recent invitation for sugar workers and their union to participate in the management and possible ownership of a sugar estate, arguing that a similar proposal advanced years ago by bauxite workers was ignored by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) administration.

In his Eye on Guyana column published on Sunday, Lewis said the experience of workers at the Berbice Mining Enterprise (BERMINE) remains one of the clearest examples of what he believes is unequal treatment when it comes to economic empowerment and ownership opportunities in Guyana.

His comments come less than a week after President Irfaan Ali used the June 16 Enmore Martyrs commemoration to publicly invite the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) to assume a direct role in managing a sugar estate, arguing that workers and their representatives should play a greater role in shaping the industry’s future.