The GPSU said participants at the recently held Public Services International Hemispheric Committee Against Racism meeting were alarmed that the Guyana government had subjected some public sector workers to polygraph testing and dismissed them after the said exercise.
According to a press release, GPSU president Patrick Yarde told the meeting that only “certain categories of persons” were subjected to the test and the Union had condemned the exercise on the grounds that the test is unscientific and because of its inherent unfairness to workers particularly since “others whose honesty and integrity were likely to be in question were exempted from such tests.” Yarde said too the GPSU had advised its members not to submit to polygraph exercises. The meeting asked to be kept informed about the matter.
Yarde discussed the issue under the agenda item `reports from the sub-region’. The agenda also included the Convention Against Discrimination currently being discussed by the OAS. The meeting also examined the UN Durban Review Conference Report held in Geneva, Switzerland from April 20-24 and Good practices by the government in the Americas to combat racism.
The release said Yarde also reported on current difficulties being experienced by Caricom members; the free movement of people in keeping with treaty obligations. Committee members also visited the Brazilian Congress on August 25 and in a meeting with the president of the senate recorded their support for the bill titled ‘Statute for Racial Equality.’ The meeting was held in Brasilia, Brazil from August 25-26.