The embattled local security firm United Associates Security and Domestic Services Inc. (UAS&DS) is seeking ways to discharge millions of dollars worth of liabilities to its Security Guards and other agencies while continuing to maintain its services to clients in the security and domestic and janitorial service sectors.
In an exclusive interview with the Stabroek Business earlier this week Rudolph Welch, a senior official of the National Union of Public Service Employees (NUPSE) one of the two trade unions managing the firm told Stabroek Business that discharging its financial liabilities while providing the services for which the company has been contracted are “the two critical priorities” of the security firm. “We can hardly hide the fact that the company faces serious problems. We are indebted to a number of persons and agencies, including our security guards in addition to which there are operational and administrative issues which we need to address. The positive thing is that the new Board of Directors is determined to deal honestly and diligently with these issues,” Welch told Stabroek Business.
The disclosure by Welch, who is currently serving as NUPSE’s key Director on the company’s Board of Directors comes in the wake of the recent death of former Chief Executive Officer Robert Johnson who was also President of NUPSE and concerns expressed by some members of staff in the wake of Johnson’s demise regarding the continued viability of the company.
The UAS&DS which was established in 2001 after government ceded responsibility for providing security services to state premises in the country’s ten administrative regions to two trade unions, the Union of Allied and Agricultural Workers (UAAW) and the National Union of Public Service Employees (NUPSE) owes its employees several months salaries in addition to outstanding liabilities believed to total tens of millions of dollars to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) .
In recent years the company has lost most of the sites assigned to it in 2001 to other private security services and Welch told Stabroek Business that the loss of the sites was “due to operational and other difficulties’ which the company had experienced in recent years. The company Director and NUPSE official declined to disclose the amount of the company’s outstanding liabilities but said that in the period ahead Board members will be meeting with the agencies concerned to determine how the outstanding liabilities will be settled. “As far as members of staff are concerned I can only say how grateful we are that they have kept faith with us and that meeting our financial obligation to them is our main priority,” Welch added.
Recently, an employee of the company Astil Ogle told a local television news programme that since the death of Johnson persons connected to him had removed company property including computers and other equipment worth millions of dollars from its Kingston office. Ogle said that company records critical to the organization’s operations had also disappeared. Welch told Stabroek Business that he did not propose to comment on the assertions made by Ogle. “From the Board’s standpoint our priority is to seek to rebuild the company and to make our services available to clients. Good security is a priority national concern and we believe that we can contribute to that process,” Welch said.
Asked whether he felt the company could now repair what its critics say is a seriously tarnished public image Welch said that “it depends on the new leadership of the company and how hard we are prepared to work to demonstrate that we are deserving of that confidence. He said that while no firm decision had as yet been made with regard to the running of the company on a day to day basis the Board will meet “very shortly “to determine those critical issues.” He said that he believed that what was needed was “a small, tight, committed and professional leadership unit. What we are aiming for is competence at the operational level and discipline at the level of the company’s financial management.” he added.
Johnson, who died last month following a prolonged illness is the fourth member of the hierarchy of the UAS&DS to die since the formation of the company. In 2007 former company Chairman and long-standing General Secretary of the UAAW Seelo Baichan died reportedly from a heart-related complaint while Teckchand, another former UAAW executive and company Board member died shortly after. Another member of the company’s Board of Directors, Patrick Quintyn who was also General Secretary of NUPSE died in 2004.
Meanwhile, amidst reports that persons previously connected to the UAS&DS have now formed a new company that provides similar services, Welch told Stabroek Business that the original company is still being managed by the two unions. “We are still to meet to determine issues relating to the restructuring of the company and I expect that we will have to make decisions regarding how we will proceed in the future,” he said.
This newspaper understands that the NIS had taken action against the company and its late Chief Executive Officer for millions of dollars in outstanding employee NIS contributions. Additionally, the Ministry of Labour confirmed some time ago that it was in receipt of protests from security guards over unpaid wages and salaries. Welch told Stabroek Business that the company has already begun “to prepare itself for engagements” with those agencies to which it is accountable “in the expectation that we will be given time and opportunity to make good on our debts and to be allowed to rebuild the company.”
The current Interim Chairperson of the company’s Board of Directors is UAAW President Jean Smith.