The Guyana Postal and Telecommunication Workers’ Union (PTWU) laid out a litany of complaints about GTT to the Labour Department on July 1 but is still waiting for a meeting to discuss the matters.
Last month, the union along with several GTT workers staged two protests to voice their concerns over what they say are numerous violations by the company of the workers’ rights.
A release from the union yesterday said that after the industrial actions last month, the union was invited to a meeting by the Ministry of Social Protection’s Department of Labour on July 1st.
At that meeting, the statement contended that numerous impositions, violations and continuous disregard for the extant Collective Labour Agreement between the two parties and the blatant contempt for the Labour laws by the management of GTT were raised.
When contacted yesterday, a representative from the phone company said that they are currently reviewing the release issued by the union.
The union said that it was informed that the engagement with the Department of Labour was to allow the Department to “hear its grievances in an effort to meet and have the issues resolved.”
The issues highlighted included the impending closure of one of GTT’s business offices without any recourse to consultation with the union on the wellbeing of its members and emailing of employees’ pay slips even though they do not have access to printing facilities.
Changes to staff pension and the withdrawal of the provision of transportation for employees was also another issue that was discussed at the meeting.
Yesterday, an official from the Department of Labour told this newspaper that a meeting is scheduled for tomorrow.
Meanwhile, in the release the union also said that the company has also demanded that just one technician be sent to problem areas without support and the said technician would have to drive himself to the area, fetch his own ladder and secure the vehicle all by himself.
“One-man team, whereby a technician has to drive, fetch a ladder, climb poles, both GPL and GTT, run drop wires across busy streets, do ten work orders per day and be the security for the items within the vehicle while he/she is paid only as a technician”, the union lamented.
According to the release, “over time the union addressed numerous correspondence to the Chief Executive Officer and Human Resources Manager of the company all to no avail.”
The union added that management has also failed consistently to acknowledge receipt of those letters. “Most of those letters were copied to the Department of Labour, yet the issues remain unaddressed to date,” the release said.
The union was subsequently told that a meeting will be scheduled with the management of GTT Do more and GPTWU “in an attempt to bring a resolution. All to no avail,” the statement added.
