GPOC casuals protest their termination

Jan 05, 2010 News

– Chairman sees protest as political

The 130 plus casual employees (temporary staff) who were given termination letters on December 31, 2009, staged a protest in front of the General Post Office Corporation (GPOC) yesterday.
“Why should we reapply for jobs we already doing?” was written on one placard.

Casuals protesting in front of the GPOC

Harold Shepherd, President of the Guyana Postal and Telecommunication Workers Union, who is also a Member of the Post Office Corporation Board of Directors, said that the reason for the protest is the unjust dismissal of 130 plus employees. Harold Shepherd, said that the union was not informed and the workers were not given any notice, only after arrival for their respective duties they were given dismissal letters.
He said the union is optimistic upon being successful in the reinstatement of the dismissed employees forthwith and they are awaiting the intervention of the Ministry of Labour since many complaints have been made against the Chairman of the Post Office.
He also stated that this would be the first stage of a nation wide protest.
“Those who would have more than two years of service are about 40 per cent and those with one year are about 35 per cent and those with more than six months 10 per cent. About 140 workers have been terminated across the length and breath of the country,” Shepherd said.
He also said the delivery of service to the public would be affected because termination of so many employees could create a void.
He noted there is a casual employee who joined since 2001 although working intermittently, over the last three years, has also been dismissed.
The GPOC later held a press conference at which Chairman Bishop Juan Edghill, said that on December 29, last, a decision was taken at the statutory meeting based on a consensus.
The decision was arrived at to sever all casual postal employees’ services on December 31, 2009.
He said that the decision was taken to ensure accurately the number of vacancies that exist so it can be filled with competent and qualified persons, while casuals with higher functions were regularised.
He added that the protest outside the GPOC was political, since no notice was given of any industrial dispute between management and the Guyana Postal and Telecommunication Workers’ Union.
He explained that casuals are persons who are taken on the job temporarily when someone proceeds on maternity leave, on vacation or excess work.
“What has been happening in the post office over time is if an employee proceeds on maternity leave, a casual is employed. The employee would return from maternity leave and the casual would remain on the job, so two people are being paid to do the same job,” Bishop Edghill said.
He said the corporation expended close to $10M in excess of its budgetary allocation on its wage bill.
According to the Chairman, the GPOC had not wanted to be bias in hand picking who should be dismissed and a decision was made to terminate all the casual workers.
He further said that the GPOC is a business entity and some casuals were promoted based upon their qualifications and the entity has to retain the best people for the jobs.
He said the GPOC does not receive money from the Consolidated Fund and has to produce in order to pay its workers. The fat in the system must be cut out.
And all casuals who were laid off would be eligible to fill any vacancies in the corporation after submitting their qualifications, since all the casuals were given the necessary information about their termination. (Rabindra Rooplall)