Guyana sugar strike over, exports safe

A union leader says thousands of cane cutters have ended a week-long strike in Guyana after the government ordered binding arbitration in a bid to reopen the state-run sugar industry and avoid interrupting exports to Europe.

Most of the 15,000 striking workers returned to their jobs this weekend after an arbitrator started to review the case, according to Komal Chand, head of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union.

“(The workers) are now back on the job in numbers,” Mr Chand told reporters. He said arbitration talks are expected to begin as soon as today.