…Says Farmers Conceded Too Much

Lucilo Teck

Four of the eighteen directors under the B.S.C.F.A. signed a petition last week to go back to the general assembly. They were outvoted by the majority. So now those directors, and the cane-farmers who support them, made the decision to take the fight into another arena. They feel that the farmers have not benefitted from the deal which has been forged with ASR/B.S.I., and feel also that farmers have conceded everything and gained nothing, while the factory has conceded nothing and gained everything. According to Lucilo Teck and Javier Keme, this is the last battle, which they hope will be played out on a level field at a general assembly meeting of cane-farmers.

Lucilo Teck, Cane Farmer, San Victor Branch

“When negotiation began, I was there. At the commencement of the negotiations with ASR/B.S.I., I was there as a member of the Committee of Management where we strongly stood with that principle that we will not yield to the ASR/B.S.I. ownership. And we went for maybe about a year still not yielding our rights to be recognized as the full owners. But now suddenly about two months ago, month and a half, things have changed dramatically. The Committee of Management has decided to yield to B.S.I. according to the proposed agreements that they hope to sign tomorrow; they are yielding our rights as being the true owners of the product, cane. And that will dramatically affect us because once it is agreed that the cane once it crosses the factory scale, it belongs to B.S.I. without being fully paid. That means that then we don’t have any right to negotiating the future, any increase prices to access the market—foreign, regional and local—because it doesn’t belong to us again; it belongs to B.S.I.”

Javier Keme

Javier Keme, Chairman, Finance Committee, B.S.C.F.A.

“On the twenty-second group that stand with us, a group of directors, stand with us, filed a petition under the Sugar Industry Act for a special general meeting to have the complete document, the completely agreement be presented and explained, detailed to the cane farmers and pass a resolution to be accepted formally. In this last meeting, it was passed as a motion. The three points were presented by the C.E.O. to the farmers and it was discussed, but not as a resolution. It was not passed as a resolution; it was passed as a motion and I think in benefit of doing things good for the B.S.C.F.A., we are asking them to go back to the general assembly to give the privilege to the farmers to force their right to know what they will be agreeing, what they will be conceding under this new agreement; to give them the complete document for them to read and be explained, detailed, and for them to accept it if it is such. Then we don’t have any problem.”