President of the Postal and Telecommunications Workers Union (PTWU), Harold Shepherd says they are prepared to use all industrial relations avenues, and to even seek legal recourse to address the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company’s (GTT’s) decision to start laying off employees.
Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday, Shepherd related that the Union had met with about 65 employees from GTT who are members of the PTWU, and they had expressed concerns about their future with the company.
“They also expressed concern over the mass email that was sent out, advising them of the company’s intention to sever employees, and about their six colleagues that had been severed already,” he explained.
“We are leaving no stone unturned and we will be seeking the support of our stakeholders in industrial relations because it must be dealt with in a proper way. The Ministry of Social Protection’s Department of Labour must stop GTT in their tracks,” he said, while relating that even though the company knows the correct thing to do, they have chosen to ignore the regulations of the Labour Act, and as such as, a responsibility to engage the union.
“We are prepared to use all industrial relations avenue[s], and even if we have to seek legal recourse, we are prepared. We are prepared to get all the unions on board to challenge GTT,” he added.
“GTT needs to relook at how they are handling the situation and sit down with the union and let’s look at all the possibilities of making those employees redundant, more so, in the presence of the present economic situation,” he said, relating that some of the employees that have been severed so far are over 50 years old, and might have been planning for their retirement but will now have to reconsider their options since they now are out of a job.
“The public also needs to be informed that GTT wouldn’t be able to provide the necessary services efficiently because they will have a demotivated work force,” he related.
According to a source, of the six persons who have been retrenched so far, most of them were from high level positions.
“The company doesn’t have 120 managers or supervisors, so the bulk will come from the smaller persons who might be unionized,” Shepherd added, reemphasizing the Union’s position that GTT does not have to go down such a path.
“One employee [that was laid off] made reference that the persons were trained to do other things and multitask, and could’ve been placed somewhere else,” he noted.
Last week Wednesday the telecommunications company had announced in a statement that they would be restructuring their operations, and as such, 120 employees would be made “redundant”.
However, even though the company had released a statement, the PTWU had explained to Stabroek News that no consultations were held with the Union, which Shepherd had said violated the agreement between the union and the company and the labour laws.
While the company has over 700 employees, Shepherd had related that the PTWU represents approximately 220 of them, and even if the workers who were released, and those who are going to be released are not represented by a union, the company has to notify the Ministry of Social Protection’s Department of Labour of their intention, one month in advance, along with whichever union is on board.
Shepherd had also observed that essentially the company was dismissing their workers since their actions did not run in line with the labour laws.
“I see it as dismissal, not redundant workers.
When you’re making a person redundant there are certain guidelines you must follow, and if you breached those guidelines then you’ve essentially dismissed those employees”, he said.
