Union says GTT violated labour agreement

Feb 25, 2017 News

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The Guyana Postal and Telecommunication Workers’ Union (GPTWU) has accused the Guyana

Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) of violating the extant Collective Labour Agreement (CLA) which it signed with the Union.
This was expressed by the Union in a statement yesterday which addressed the planned termination of employment for 120 long-serving employees of the telecommunications company.
The statement said that the company continues to display contempt for the existing legislation relating to employer and employee conduct by unilaterally operating outside of the parameters of statutory fidelity.
An example of this behaviour was given as the persistent violation and without due process to the mandatory tenets of the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act No. 19 of 1997 part 111.
According to the Union, the situation has worsened due to the company’s determination to rid itself of the 120 employees over the next 12 months. The Union said that this particular decision by GT&T was disseminated to the company’s 700-plus employees via email.
GT&T is being accused of failing to consider the psychological consequences of dispensing that sort of information in that manner.
“Immediately after the email was dispatched, six persons were issued letters of termination. These seemed to be management level employees.
“The company, it seems, is on a path of no return in sending home a further 114 employees under

the guise of reorganisation.”
The company had said that the reason for wanting to let go of the employees was to facilitate restructuring; a justification the Union refuses to swallow.
At a recent meeting of GPTWU members, its General-Secretary Eslyn Harris said that reorganisation encompasses a holistic approach. She said that the company cannot reorganise only floor level employees but should also include management.
Harris said that the excuse given by the company to ‘reorganise’ operations would take workers along a certain path. She noted that some time last year there was talk about‘re-designation’, starting with employees of the call centre.
In a statement issued by the company, its Chief Executive Officer Justin Nedd, had said that the company is on the verge of creating an entity built for the future and therefore needs to position itself to ensure that everyone understands their role and is driven in the same direction.
Meanwhile, the Union maintains that it is unaware of any reorganisation as adumbrated by management. Also, the Union finds the manifest contempt for the labour laws by the company as only exacerbating the situation.
“Unfortunately there is the perception that management of GT&T persists in demonstrating its contempt for their employees. By informing the employees via mass email does nothing to dispel that perception.
“On the contrary it serves to introduce an element of terror and distress to the equation inflicted upon those souls to whom the unpleasant news was addressed.”
Further, the Union said that GT&T has employed a number of contract employees who are executing permanent jobs on a continuous basis for a number of years. The issue was apparently raised with the Department of Labour but nothing has been done.
The welfare of employees was also addressed by the Union who said that the company continues to showcase disregard for workers’ wellbeing.
“Technicians continue to work as a “one-man team”. A single technician has to drive the company’s vehicle, fetch a ladder, climb poles, both GPL and GT&T, run drop wires across busy streets, do ten work orders per day and be the security for the items within the vehicle.
“All of this multitasking only attracts the pay of a technician. Technicians were robbed while working under those conditions. Employees are bullied to work through lunch and overtime without being paid.”
The termination of 120 employees will supposedly have a tremendous social and economic impact which will have a rippling effect according to the Union.
The GPTWU also fears that a number of families will be placed on the breadline as a result of the move. The Union promises to pull out all the stops to bring the management into subjection of the law to ensure that rights and the rule of law prevail.
In addition to affecting the lives of the 120 employees, the union boss, Harold Shepherd, had told Kaieteur News that the move by the company will have a negative impact on the employees whom GT&T predicts will remain.
“We believe the action by GT&T against its long-serving employees will not be in the best interest of the company, and also, it actually impacts negatively on the workforce generally, even those they envisage to remain.
“It will impact at least their future, because obviously you would not want to work with a company that you have no security of tenure, because how can you plan your life.”
The Union has promised to take rigid action against the telecommunication company in light of the recent developments.

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