The 2018 and 2019 Annual General Meetings of the GAWU Credit Union have approved measures which will see members benefiting from nearly $5m in their accounts.
A release yesterday from the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Cooperative Credit Union Society Limited said it concluded its 26th and 27th Annual General Meetings on Saturday December 12, 2020.
The 2018 AGM approved the payment of a 1.75 dividend to all members who had ordinary savings balances at the end of 2018. Apart from that, the 2019 meeting approved a 21 per cent interest rebate of interest payments paid by members during 2019. These two measures will see members benefitting from nearly $5m in their accounts.
The release said that the Chairperson of the Society’s Management Committee, Gaietri Baron praised the success of the credit union which had seen a massive loss in membership after four sugar estates were closed in recent years. She said that despite the setback, the Society was steadily gaining membership as more and more workers are encouraged by the benefits and opportunities offered by the Society.
The Society’s Secretary, Sattie Basdeo said in the press release that despite the difficulties the Credit Union remained financially sound though she pointed out that remittances from GuySuCo to the Society have been delayed.
The Society’s Treasurer, Seepaul Narine told the meeting that for the years 2018 and 2019, the Society recorded surpluses $4,918,076 and $2,355,663 respectively. He noted that in both years the Co-operatives Department of the Ministry of Labour had sought to have the GAWU Credit Union pay one per cent of its working capital as Audit and Supervision fees.
He said that the significant fees demanded would have left the Credit Union with little or nothing to distribute to members and as a result representation was made to the Co-operatives Department for the acceptance of ten per cent of the surplus as is outlined in the law. He related that the Co-operatives Society Act requires Societies to pay either ten per cent of their surplus or one per cent of their working capital as Audit and Supervision Fees to the Co-operatives Division.
After some consideration, he said that the Co-operatives Division approved the request. He added that GAWU has made representation to Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton that the act be amended to require credit unions to pay ten per cent of their surplus as Audit and Supervision Fees.
Apart from Audit and Supervision Fees, the Society is statutorily obligated to set aside twenty per cent of its surplus towards its Statutory Reserve, allowing the remainder to be distributed as the AGM approves.
The meeting also elected a nine-person Committee of Management comprising: Gaietri Baron, Seepaul Narine, Aslim Singh, Harvey Tambron, Julius Nurse, Bhikram Singh, Sattie Basdeo, Lochan Khandai, and Orison Walcott.
The release said that the GAWU Credit Union has been in existence for nearly three decades and continues to be an important avenue for workers to set aside monies for savings.
