BSI/BSCFA Back and Forth Continues

The 2014-2015 sugar cane crop season is threatened by an impasse between the factory and the farmers. Latest developments this week are that BSI has sought to bypass the BSCFA, in a move to sign contracts with small reaping groups and individual farmers. The BSCFA has countered that move, holding meetings with all eighteen branches of the Association and calling a general assembly meeting this Saturday at Escuela Mexico in San Roman, Corozal. BSI is moving full steam ahead and today issued two releases, one to farmers and one to the general public castigating the BSCFA. The first is telling farmers that the consultation period is extended to November eighteenth. On the twenty-first, farmers will be presented with a final draft of the agreement, and by the twenty-eighth they must have signed the contract. If the factory received its minimum requirement of six thousand tons per day, then all’s good. If it doesn’t, then it’s back to square one. And square one is addressed in BSI’s second release, which reiterates that it will not sign any interim agreement with the BSCFA. The release also makes direct reference to the real threat of industrial action, stating that quote – “Some leaders of the BSCFA have again resorted to threats and intimidation, which is not a new phenomenon in the industry. Any undesirable action arising from this can have severe consequences on the sugar industry and the national economy. This has gone on for too long at the expense of building a commercially focused and viable industry. We will not be intimidated by these threats,” end quote. It’s nothing new…nothing that BSI hasn’t stated before, but it is a clear reiteration that any agreement between the parties is extremely unlikely.