Dear Editor,
I would like to express a few concerns about the recently concluded 22nd Delegates Conference held by the GPSU on 27th September-29th September 2017. The conference was held with the aim of installing the newly elected executive members from the just concluded highly controversial elections.
At the conference members were informed that the GPSU accounts for the year 2003-2004 have now been completed, despite the fact that rule 13 states clearly that the accounts of the union shall be audited by the 1st May each year. The only logical question that follows is why has the union not been audited for the last thirteen 13 years?
To compound the problem, the contesting party that challenged the incumbent executives and President for leadership of the union was barred from attending the conference because they have asked for the union’s audit in keeping with the rules of the organization. Isn’t it reasonable for members to request an account in keeping with the rules of how their dues are being managed? Rather than dealing with the issues, the current President choose to take a subjective avenue rather than an objective one. His answer in dealing with this was reading a letter that was written by one of his supporters to the conference telling members that Karen Vansluytman had attacked the character of his supporter and that Ms Vansluytman should be held accountable.
During the elections Ms Vansluytman was branded by this same union leader as a non-member, a concocted matter which was ventilated in her absence without her being able to exercise her constitutional right to due process. While the matter of the election and the violation of the rules has now engaged the court and a ruling is expected on the 6th November 2017, one cannot help but notice the hypocrisy of this leadership which expects the current government to reintroduce the agency fees agreement to an organization that is not accountable for members’ finances.
This union leader has banned all of the persons from the membership who have challenged him for leadership, as well as potential challengers for the leadership of the Guyana Public Service Union. Any quick research will show that names such as Ms Karen Vansluytman, Mr Gregory Gasper, Jermain Hermanstyne, etc, are now no longer members of the union because their dues are no longer accepted. Is this democracy? This union leader is clearly running the organization as private property.
I would like to appeal to President David Granger to notice the many strides the government has made over the past year in stamping out corruption. Therefore, the President cannot afford the credibility of his government to be tainted by a few who want to control the workforce by occupying the chairmanship of the Public Service Commission. This is another highly controversial matter, since it is a clear conflict of interest to hold that position as well as one in the GPSU at the same time.
Yours faithfully,
Jermain Hermanstyne
Public Sector employee
