The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Inc has halted its retrenching exercise of employees of its Transmission and Distribution (T&D) and Generation department.
This move comes after 170 of the 250 targeted employees have already been laid off. This information was communicated in a letter from the power company to the National Association of Agricultural Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE), which is the union that represents the company’s workers.
According to the letter, which was signed by GPL’s Acting Chief Executive Officer Bharat Dindyal, the halting of the retraction exercise has come about because of “the delay in procuring T&D equipment and tools and commissioning of the new power plant in Demerara coupled with the need to operate additional power modules.”
The letter further stated that the crew restructuring exercise has “significantly advanced and training is ongoing” but said that the resources to invest in utility vehicles and specialized tools are only now becoming available.
However, NAACIE General Secretary Kenneth Joseph said this latest move by GPL was further proof that the power company “did not properly think out their plan before implanting it.”
Joseph said that considering the stance taken by the company, the union is now in a position to begin computer training of the former employees.
He said that his union is looking forward to having these classes start as soon as possible, and had identified next Monday as a possible starting date. This project is supposed to be funded by GPL and is part of its compensation package to the employees. The classes are expected to equip staff with additional skills which may serve them well in their attempt to gain future employment.
According to Joseph, several current GPL employees have also indicated that they wanted to be separated voluntarily from the company with the same benefits of the retrenched employees. He explained to this newspaper, that several of these employees feel that they do not have secure jobs with GPL. This, he said, was further evidence of widespread discontent among the staff of the power company.
The concerns of NAACIE have been communicated to the GPL via another letter.
