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GWU joins workers protest for severance pay from Pritipaul Singh
Kaieteur News – To signal its solidarity with the Pritipaul Singh Investment workers who were laid-off last month, the General Workers’ Union (GWU) on Friday picketed in front of the Ministry of Labour on Brickdam over a number of issues affecting the workers.
Present at the protest yesterday was President of GWU, Norris Witter, along with some members of the Union and a few of the laid-off Pritipaul Singh workers. Among the key issues they protested yesterday was for the company to issue the laid-off workers their severance pay.
Scenes from yesterday’s protest in front of the Ministry of Labour, Brickdam office.
Speaking briefly with Kaieteur News yesterday, one of the workers, Shevon Jeffery, related that the issue came up last month when some of the workers were in the process of joining a Union.
She said that they had a meeting last month with their boss and that at that meeting he said, “all who want Union go through the gate”. She explained that the woman at the workplace who was trying to get the Union in place had asked the boss what will happen with her years of service. “So he turn and tell her all who want to follow her to go to personnel to get payoff, so the persons went and they payoff some and they hold back some,” Jeffrey stated.
Jeffery added that the reason they were in the process of joining a Union is to address some of the hardships they reportedly face at the company. “We were trying to get the Union for the company, for we to get betterments, because some workers got to work 10 hours with just 25 minutes lunch break, and sometimes in the morning you tend to smell the ammonia gas and some workers fainted from inhaling the gas,” she explained.
A terminated worker said she worked for the company for just over 19 years and when she went to collect her severance pay, the company refused to pay her. She explained to members of the media yesterday that “I worked with Pritipaul for 19 years, they make an appointment with we that each and every one of we, will have our payoff and they call some, one day and give some, call another day and when is my turn to go, them ain’t giving, so we just want to know what really going on and we came to Labour.”
The woman added that she has no interest in working with the company anymore, just that she wanted her severance pay.
Another displeased worker said that from what she was told was that the Ministry of Labour engaged the company and that the company was told to pay-off its workers, and why she is protesting is because the company is refusing to pay her the severance payment due to her. “I worked with Pritipaul Singh for over 20 years, rain, sun and dew and it’s time for he to give me my severance what he promised,” she said.
The President of the General Workers’ Union told the media yesterday that the way he understood things stand, the Chief Labour Officer at the Ministry of Labour had informed the management of Pritipaul Singh Investment to pay all the workers that received letters of termination their severance pay.
He added that the company’s response has been, “for those who have not been paid we have indicated to them that we have rescinded those letters and that they are to return to work and as a consequence we will not pay.”
Mr. Witter said that the Union’s position on this matter is that since the Ministry of Labour has advised that, based on the letters issued by the company, the workers should be paid.
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