By SHARIEF KHAN
CHAIRMAN of the dissident Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (F1TUG) and President of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), Mr. George Daniels has been dismissed from his substantive government job.
His dismissal as Principal Assistant Secretary in the Agriculture Ministry is effective from March 1 this year and this means he loses all his monetary benefits, including pension rights and gratuity after working for about 20 years with the Ministry.
Daniels was out of the country this week and was expected over the weekend but GPSU General Secretary, Mr. Leslie Melville declared the government’s action was “blatant discrimination against Daniels for his stand on union activities.
“We expected this. This is being played to a written score set a long time ago,” Melville claimed.
DISMISSAL
He added, “the score called for the dismissal of Daniels but they didn’t want to dismiss him while he was President of the Trades Union Congress.”
Daniels’ tenure as TUC President ended last September and with the subsequent formation of FITUG with Daniels as Chairman, he has been under steady pressure from government.
The Daniels’ impasse with government has been longstanding but escalated after his union came out against the controversial Constitutional Amendment Bill 1988 which government passed in Parliament to reverse a Court of Appeal ruling.
AWOL
The GPSU protest evoked an order in March from the Public Service Commission (PSC) that Daniels report back for duty with government.
In 1976 he had been seconded from the ministry to full-time duty, with the GPSU which Melville sad was in keeping with Public Service rules.
Daniels did not heed the March back-to-work order as this would have jeopardised his union presidency and he got the backing of his union for the decision.
The letter of dismissal dated December 7 informed the – union Daniels was fired for “being absent from duty without leave.”
Melville charged that the government’s action against Daniels stemmed from his position on issues that affected the welfare and wellbeing of his members.
PROTEST
“Daniels and the union protested against the use of our members in a picketing exercise in support of the Constitution Amendment Bill. We said we also did not agree with the Bill and that seemed to have offended the political directorate.” he said. “Then they directed him to go out back to work; we tried to get them to vary this, they refused to do that and the union instructed Daniels not to report back to work.
“This shows us how the government normally reacts. They waited until such time as Daniels was no longer President of the TUC before they dismissed him because they know if they had done so probably, there would have been a hue and a cry in certain circles.”
Page One Comment
THE sudden dismissal two days ago of Mr. Frank Pilgrim, Editor-in-Chief of the Chronicle has come as a shock to those who had interpreted his appointment in May 1987 as evidence of an intention by the government to take a second look at the relationship between government officials and the editorial content of the newspaper and to improve the quality and image of the paper.
On Thursday, Mr. Pilgrim received a letter dated December 14, from the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information, terminating his services immediately. He had earlier been asked to resign but refused to do so. Observers questioned the propriety of the letter coming from the Ministry of Information as Mr. Pilgrim is not employed by that Ministry but by Guyana National Newspapers Limited; publishers of the Chronicle, a separate private company the shares in which are owned by the government with its own board of directors. It is felt, indeed, that the notice may not be legally effective.
It is understood that no reasons have been given in the letter for Mr. Pilgrim’s dismissal. Informed
sources indicate that Mr. Pilgrim and Minister of Information Mrs. Yvonne Harewood-Benn have not seen eye to eye on the handling of certain stories appearing in the Chronicle and differences have arisen between them. Mr. Pilgrim took over last year from Mr. Courtney Gibson who had also been removed from his job.
Diplomatic and other sources have expressed concern at this development coming, as it does, at a time when, judged by recent speeches, there seems to have been a sudden hardening of the government’s position on other matters. It was also widely believed that Mr. Pilgrim had enjoyed the confidence of the President and that he had been selected for the specific purpose of improving the image and style of the newspaper. Mr. Pilgrim has had a long and varied career in journalism here and abroad.,.
Other media sources expressed bitter disappointment at this unexpected development. Mr. Pilgrim had been seen, however gradually, as attempting to open up the Chronicle to freer and less biased reporting and his dismissal is inevitably being interpreted as a major step in the wrong direction.
In a lengthy interview with Stabroek News in June last year Mr. Pilgrim had responded as follows to two questions:
SN: Would you eventually advocate a movement towards the BBC model where the independence of the producers or the editor is expressly built in to the model so that although you have ownership by the state you have the actual producers protected from interference by the state – would you consider that, even if not feasible immediately, an ideal to ain at?
FP: I would and I feel it will have two very sobering effects. I think it would create a responsible type of journalist a more responsible type of media, and people with the right qualifications would not shy away from being a journalist as happens now.
SN: Is there anything you would like to achieve?
FP: I would like to show that the paper can be more wide in its coverage of news and can be accepted as a people’s paper and not a government paper and that people could rely on it as being honest and credible.
Regrettably, it now seems unlikely that Mr Pilgrim will have the opportunity to implement either these objectives.
It is understood, however, that Mr. Pilgrim is seeking clarification of his position and may be making representations to the Board of Directors and in other quarters.
CXC To Introduce ‘A’ Levels In 1990
THE Caribbean Examination Council has planned to start examinations at the Advanced Level from 1990.
A source from the Ministry of Education has said that the Ministry is not aware of how the CXC’s Advanced Levels will affect the GCE examination, but that the number of candidates entering for the GCE examination has been decreasing compared to the CXC examination.
The source said that the CXC examination is cheaper than the GCE exam since it involved no foreign exchange.
“CXC seems to be the predominant examination and Guyana is committed to support the Caribbean Examination Council,” the source said.
It was noted that the emphasis is mainly on localising the CXC examination so that students can have a sense of origin.
According to the source, CXC will be offering a second sitting of its examination in January next year. He said the examination will only be offering the second sitting of Mathematics and English language which will be equivalent to the GCE Ordinary Level examination.
The source said that fewer schools are now sending students up for the GCE examination. He said the CXC will be doing Advanced Levels in about four subjects beginning from 1990. The subjects will include Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics to be written in one year, while the Social Sciences and the Art subjects will be done during 1992 and 1993 respectively.