Freddie replies to Al Creighton

Nov 28, 2011 Letters

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Dear Editor,
I hereby offer my reply to Mr. Al Creighton’s letter, which showers praise on the former Organizing Secretary, Mr. Godfrey Adams, and has a prolonged attack on me as the Vice Chairman (of UGWU). In his correspondence, Mr. Creighton would want readers to believe that he is someone familiar with the distinction between right and wrong. Strange such a position is taken by Mr. Creighton when he just penned a swashbuckling outpouring of praise for Mr. Jagdeo on the Day of Appreciation hosted by the President himself.
One wonders if such a person can ever distinguish between right and wrong. Just two days before a national election, Mr. Creighton finds time to expend energy on Freddie Kissoon rather than focus on what his President is doing to the University. In countless letters to the media stretching over a decade or more, I have always classified Mr. Creighton as a person who has done immense harm to the University. At the University there is the well known trio – Creighton, James Rose and Tota Mangar – who were the agents through which the Jagdeo regime maintained it hegemony at UG
Now for a point of rebuttal. Mr. Creighton is upset that Mr. Adams is gone because Mr. Adams was a graphic example of what a company man inside a trade union is. Mr. Adams performed this task shamelessly. A new executive four years ago put an immediate stop to it. Through Mr. Adams, the UGWU was in service of the administration of Al Creighton and James Rose
Secondly, unlike what Mr. Creighton believes in his mind, I sign less that five percent of the documents coming out of the UGWU. I am involved in less than ten percent of UGWU activities. Mr. Creighton’s letter is an insult to a hard-working executive that is based on the University campus from nine to five unlike a lecturer like me that is not required to be there in those hours everyday
Thirdly, it is true that I serve in the Committees that Mr. Creighton named. But I was nominated and voted in by the UGWU with Godfrey Adams at all times voting for me.
There isn’t a Guyanese in this country that doesn’t know about the fear that has overtaken this nation. Had I refused those appointments, the UGWU would have had no representation in those bodies. Mr. Creighton failed to mention the vast areas of UGWU activities where I am not involved because it suits his purpose. For example, I am not on the Strategic Plan Committee, our chairman is. I do not represent the Union in the TUC. I am not on the UG disciplinary Committee, our chairman is. I am not on the committee on climate change, our chairman is. Mr. Creighton wants readers to believe that Freddie Kissoon is the UGWU
Here is the part that Mr. Creighton is made to look foolish. I quote from his letter; “The Statutes specify that the representative should be a non-academic member of the Union. It was Mr. Kissoon who got the Council to agree to change that so that he, as an academic member could become the representative.” (end of quote). Let me now describe the indecency and dishonesty in that statement. But a moment of hilarity should be noted. At a Council dominated by members of both the PPP and the PPP Government, Mr. Creighton tells readers that I got the Council to change a Statute.
Obviously, Freddie Kissoon has a lot of power and sway over the PPP Government as expressed by his influence in the Council of the University. If that was so, I would have long sought to have the Council bring James Rose and Al Creighton before the Disciplinary Committee of the University. Now for Mr. Creighton’s dishonesty
The Statutes of UG prevent an academic from sitting in the Appointments Committee (AC) on discussions on lecturers’ contract renewal. It was an obnoxious violation of industrial relations. It went on for more than 45 years. The Union introduced a motion that Council should abolish that anachronism.  There was no vote against but one abstention. What it meant was that the Union could now choose anyone to represent it in the AC including academics. Prior to that, the Union was represented by clerks and secretaries who were afraid to speak. The UGWU met and chose its representative. That person was me
If as Mr. Creighton reported in his letter that Mr. Adams was selfless and the most respected UGWU executive on campus, then when that particular Statute was abolished why didn’t the UGWU choose Adams? This letter is getting too long but before I close I would like to inform readers about another major achievement of the UGWU in the Council. The UGWU and the student body got the Council to reverse the dismissal of Dr. Desiree Fox whose contract was terminated by Mr. Al Creighton when he was acting VC. I warn Mr. Creighton not to reply to this point because I will produce the minutes of that meeting when he continued to argue for her dismissal
Frederick Kissoon 

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