Ahead of the upcoming Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) elections, President Patrick Yarde is facing new calls for him to go after 30 years at the helm of the union.
Nearly a dozen protestors mobilised outside GPSU’s office to call for Yarde’s removal yesterday. Shouts of “Who must go?” were met with, “Yarde must go!” and calls were made for the union to be taken “back from Patrick.”
“We have recognised that since 1987 Patrick Yarde has been President of the Guyana Public Service Union, which brings it to over three decades. We’ve also recognized that over that extended period, there are almost over 15 to 20 years of failed negotiations for public servants,” Jermaine Hermanstyne, spokesperson of the group, said yesterday.
“Yarde has served his time. We acknowledge that he has made a contribution to the Guyana public service community and we are indeed grateful to him for that, but we are saying it is time. Thirty years is far too long and… he has entrenched himself there,” protestor Karen VanSluytman-Corbin, who had previously attempted to challenge Yarde for the presidency, stated.
She said that during his tenure there has been a loss in membership for the union, as persons are no longer interested in being a part of the union while he remains president.
“It is no longer effective [his leadership]—there was a time when it was—but it is no longer effective and he is not there because of what he can do for the public servants at the moment but what he can do for himself. That is why he’s there now, that is why he’s holding on for dear life, and we are saying it is time for him to go. It seems as though Mr Yarde wants to celebrate a golden jubilee as president of that union and we’re saying no that will not happen. No golden jubilee as president of that union,” VanSluytman-Corbin added.
Among the calls being made by the protestors is for transparency in the process for the upcoming elections. According to Hermanstyne, GPSU’s elections cannot be considered transparent because they are held at the union’s headquarters, where Yarde’s office is.
“It is like Jagdeo running for president and the elections commission being housed at Freedom House—it is totally unacceptable. And therefore, we have been getting support throughout the public service, many persons are asking how they can be a part of this protest to ensure that they see the back of Patrick Yarde and we expect him to do the decent thing, which is to step down and allow young people to get an opportunity to serve,” he said.
Hermanstyne noted that although they are making calls for Yarde’s removal, Yarde is not the only issue.
“The major problem does not solely lie with Patrick Yarde. One of the major problems that we also have is that you have almost 60% of the executive council members who sit to make decisions on behalf of public servants, who do not represent any constituency out there. They do not speak on behalf of a branch, they’ve never served on behalf of a branch and they’re only there because they were hand-picked and put there by Patrick Yarde,” he contended.
“As part of the union’s rule, you are supposed to serve on the executive of a branch at your location where you work or serve on a committee at the union. What you have is that persons who are there that sit on the executive council, a lot of them are already retired out of the public service, like Patrick Yarde. They’re all above the retirement age but they seem to give the impression as if they are speaking on behalf of the workers of the public service, which is unfair,” he added.
Hermanstyne related that the group is presently contemplating legal action against the president, although he would not say on what grounds. He did note, however, that the grounds on which Yarde can be challenged are “enormous.”
The protest will continue today and every day onwards from midday to 12.45pm.
The union’s elections are to be held on April 24.
