Dear Editor,
The Guyana Teachers’ Union, the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), the University of Guyana Senior Staff Association, the University of Guyana Workers Union, the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) and its affiliated Unions, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Unions (GAWU) and other Trade Unions under the Federation of Independent Trade Unions (FITUG) should let the Guyanese people know of their observance of the Labour Laws, in particular the Trades Unions’ Act, the Labour Act, and the Trade Union Recognition Act, referred to hereunder,
This year will mark one hundred and three years since the enactment on 18 June 1921 of the Trade Unions Act: Chapter 98:03 – No. 17 of 1921. This is the first fundamental Trade Union Law which provides for registration and regulation of trade unions, their rights, protection, obligations, the registration of rules, changes in rules, amalgamation, the rendering of financial accountability, audit of accounts, and the report of the Registrar of Trades Unions to the National Assembly. The main statutory provisions include:
Trade Unions: Trade Unions are prohibited from carrying out business unless it is registered (Sections 11-12) with the Registrar of Trade Unions in accordance with this Act. A trade union, not registered in accordance with this Act, shall be dissolved within three months of its formation, or be dissolved if the Registrar of Trade Unions refuses to register it for failure to meet the requirements of this Act (Section 24).
Any seven or more members of a trade union may, by subscribing their names to the rules of the union, register the union with the Registrar of Trade Unions. (Section 15)
Protection of Trade Unions: In furtherance of a trade dispute within the context of this Act, trade unions are protected from criminal prosecution for conspiracy or otherwise. The purpose of any trade union shall not be unlawful to invalidate any agreement (Section 5). This law protects trade unions against action of tort and breach of contract or agreement or trust in pursuance of a trade dispute (Sections 7 and 8).
Property and Trustees: The Act provides for the property of the unions to be vested in trustees, (trustees cannot hold office in the same union), for legal actions by or against trustees, and limitation of responsibility of trustees (Section 16-21).
Financial Accountability: The Act also requires every treasurer or other officers to render to the trustees, the members of the union at a duly constituted meeting of the union, a just and true account of monies received and paid, funds remaining and all bonds and securities of the union. The trustees are required to submit to the Auditor General for audit within fourteen days of the receipt of the account from the treasurer (Section 22).
This Trade Union Law further stipulates the requirements and conditions in relation to the registration of union rules, the registered office of the unions, withdrawal, or cancellation of certificate of registration, change of union’s name, amalgamation of unions, registration of change of name and amalgamation, and dissolution of the union (Sections 25-33).
Annual Return and Registrar’s Reports: Section 35 of the Act imposes an obligation on every registered trade union to present to the Registrar a general statement of receipts, funds, effects, and expenditure before the 1st. of May every year. The general statement must show fully the assets and liabilities of the preceding year and must be prepared together with such information and in the manner stipulated in this Act.
The Registrar of Trade Unions is required to lay before the National Assembly annual reports with respect to matters transacted by the Registrar in keeping with the requirements of the Trade Unions Act. (Section 36). The Registrar is empowered to strike off trade unions for as registered trade unions under this act for failure to comply with the relevant provisions of the Trades Unions Act.
Other Labour laws:
The Labour Act – Chapter 98:01: Collective Agreements – Part VIIA:
• requires that Every Collective Agreement – Recognition and Procedural and Substantive – which does not contain a provision which (however expressed) states that the agreement or part of it is intended not to be legally enforceable, shall be conclusively presumed to be intended by the parties to it to be a legally enforceable contract.
• A copy of every collective labour agreement signed by the parties shall be presented to the Chief Labour Officer not later than three months after signing.
Powers of the Minister of Labour (Part II, Section 4)
The Minister is empowered in any trade dispute or where a difference exists or is apprehended between any employer and employees, to exercise all or any of the following powers:
• to inquire into the causes or circumstances of the difference;
• to take any expedient steps to promote a settlement of the difference;
• with the consent of both parties, or of either of them, or without their consent, to refer the matter for settlement by arbitration by a Tribunal consisting of one or more persons appointed by the Minister. Where the Minister refers the dispute to arbitration without the consent of either party, the Minister shall notify the parties that the continuance of the dispute is likely to be gravely injurious to the national interest;
• upon appointment of such a Tribunal, the Minister furnishes the Tribunal with its terms of reference containing a statement of the causes and circumstances of the difference between the parties into which the Tribunal is required to inquire; the Tribunal is required to make its award as soon as possible and accordingly notify the Minister and the concerned parties; and
• the Minister may request an interim award from the Tribunal with respect to any matter referred to it.
The Trade Union Recognition Act No. 33 of 1997 provides for Compulsory Recognition and Duty to Treat (Section 23) requires: –
• Where the Board certifies a trade union as the recognized majority union, the employer shall recognize the union, and the union and the employer are obligated to bargain in good faith and enter into negotiations with each other for the purpose of collective bargaining.
• Failure or refusal on the part of either the trade union or the employer to comply with any of the above requirements (Section 23) constitutes an offence and liable on summary conviction to payment of fines.
This is the law on collective bargaining that the Judge should have considered as may have been applicable in the teachers ‘case.
Hard questions, for public information and employers in the private sector should be for those with statutory responsibilities – the Registrar of Trade Unions; the Trade Unions, and their Officers; the Trustees of Trade Unions; the Auditor General; the National Assembly. The Trade Union Recognition and Certification Board, the Minister of Labour and Chief Labour Officer of the Ministry of Labour. Have they been faithfully discharging their statutory responsibilities? Let the public know.
Yours sincerely,
Joshua Singh
