Municipality’s modus operandi irks union

Sep 06, 2012 News

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– deep-seated financial problem takes on new life

 

The deep-seated financial problem at the Georgetown Municipality has taken on new life, a development that has led to some employees being denied the privilege of securing loans from the Guyana Public Service Credit Union.  This development has been linked to failure on the part of the municipality to make payments to the financial institution on behalf of workers.
Senior municipal workers have since taken their grievance to their union, the Guyana Local Government Officers’ Union (GLGOU). According to its President, Dale Beresford, “they are not remitting to the point where persons have applied for loans and they can’t get them, and this is because of no fault of theirs…”
He revealed too that the union is disappointed that the Council has refused to honour a decision to halt an Officers’ Deposit, which translated to some four per cent being deducted from each officer’s salary.
It was expected that the Officers’ Deposit would have ceased in lieu of the introduction of the National Insurance Scheme deduction, Beresford explained, adding that the Council had six months ago promised to terminate the Officers’ Deposit.
“First of all they are taking out persons’ money and they are not remitting it to the bank. Officers are supposed to have a monthly bank deposit slip and they are not receiving that…They are supposed to have a quarterly statement and they are not receiving that, so we don’t know where the money is.”
Monies are even coming out from the Acting Town Clerk (Ms. Carol Sooba)’s salary, Beresford said, even as he speculated that “she herself would want to know where her money is going, unless her money is going into a special account.”
The union has had cause to raise the issue of the Officers’ Deposit in the past and had even sought to have the deductions placed in a bank account outside of the normal Council account.  The opening of an account at Citizens Bank was recommended, but no such action has been taken, Beresford intimated during an interview with this publication.
He said too that the Union has been looking closely at the conduct of the recently appointed Acting Town Clerk, who according to him “is victimising employees. We understand that she is saying that certain persons have crossed paths with her as Legal Officer and she is going to be dealing with them. We have word that she is now trying to move several persons and only yesterday (Monday) sent a letter to the Personnel Officer for inappropriate behaviour.”
Super session of officers
The GLGOU, along with the Guyana Labour Union (GLU), which represents the rank and file, together instigated an all-out strike at the municipality on Friday last. Beresford revealed that while the industrial action was prompted by the non-payment of salaries last month, the move is meant to have a number of other concerns addressed.
Primary among the concerns, he revealed, is the super session of a number of officers to allow Municipal Legal Officer, Ms. Sooba, to be placed in the capacity of Acting Town Clerk.  According to Beresford, there are several persons who are qualified and experienced including Public Relations Officer, Royston King; Chief Meat and Food Inspector, Kenneth Stephens; Acting Clerk of Markets, Simon McKinnon; Director of Day Care, Paulette Bollers; Acting Assistant Town Clerk, Valerie Clark-Chichester, among others.
“There are several persons who have achieved tertiary education who are acting and managing sections…Ms. Sooba only managed a section of one person – herself – for about 10 years.”
Added to this, Beresford said that the union sees Sooba’s appointment as a political move, pointing out that “the (Local Government) Minister said that the appointment was not based on qualifications but character, attitudes and traits. This is a slap in the face of all those persons who would have made sacrifices to qualify themselves to be part of the whole modern era of tertiary education to head an organisation.”
According to Beresford, the position of Town Clerk requires an individual equipped with a Degree in Public Management and eight years’ experience or a Diploma in Public Administration and 10 years experience or a qualified attorney-at-law.
“The present Town Clerk acting has none of those… all the Minister is saying, having positioned Ms. Sooba, is that all you have to be is a glorified office assistant to run the municipality.”
Beresford said that the Union has assessed Sooba’s performance since being placed in the capacity of Town Clerk, and found her conduct thus far to be poor. He revealed that since assuming the post, the union has sent no less than four correspondences to the senior functionary requesting a meeting to discuss issues concerning workers. To date, he said, she has not acknowledged receipt, a state of affairs which was compounded this past weekend when attempts were again made to meet her.
“She said she had more pressing issues to deal with. I don’t know if workers’ concerns are irrelevant,” Beresford mused.
The union leader said that the current modus operandi of the municipal administration has been constantly affecting the payment of salaries, which caused the GLGOU, along with its counterpart, GLU, to initiate strike action.
“Last month we had said enough is enough. We gave an ultimatum that if they don’t pay on the last working day, or on the first working day of the month we will take industrial action and that is exactly what we have done,” Beresford said.
A Collective Labour Agreement currently exists between the unions and the Council which requires that any grievance should be brought to the attention of Council before any action is taken. Failure on the part of the Council to react could result in industrial action, which is then followed by mediation, conciliation or arbitration.
Having gained the attention of the Ministry of Labour, a conciliation meeting was planned for Tuesday but was not convened, since the Acting Town Clerk did not make an appearance. The meeting is now to be held today.

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