City Hall’s management is in chaos – Trade Unionist

…says monies should be handled by a qualified accountant
The Guyana Local Government Officers Union is solely responsible for the affairs of City Hall workers who are on the fixed establishment, but over the years, the relationship between the Union and the municipality has deteriorated.
President of the Union and former employee at City Hall, Wendy DeCunha, testified at the Commission of Inquiry on Friday, speaking about the way the resources are being managed at the Mayor and City Council (M&CC). She is of the belief that all monies of the Council should be collected, disbursed, and moreover, managed by a qualified and experienced accountant rather than having the Town Clerk perform those duties.
DeCunha noted that the Union would have tried to engage City Hall on the rights of the workers, since it is unfair to have some persons working as employees on the unfixed establishment. However, the relationship has been “confrontational”.
“It has been pretty confrontational over the past year and a half. We had an uneasy relationship before, but after certain actions were taken last year to now, it’s confrontational,” said the Trade Unionist.
The Union President pointed out that the Council is not functioning effectively, and this is because employees have been acting in capacities for many years without being confirmed.
“It (the Council) is not operating at optimal. We have a lot of vacancies for staff,” she explained.
She added, “If someone is promoted or someone is retired, they place you to act and you’re supposed to act for six months after which they would review your performance…four years and you’re still acting. Nobody is looking at confirming them.”
It is her views that since Town Clerk, Royston King has taken up his respective post, the workers are being neglected and the monies are being spent on restoration and community initiatives.
She directed those statements after judging from the time the former Town Clerk, Carol Sooba was in office where at that time; all workers were paid on time.
“I would say that the late payment of salaries, not looking at the welfare and wellbeing of the workers in terms of working environment are some of those things. All of those have to be dealt as a result of good management of Council finances.”
DeCunha said she is dissatisfied with the state of affairs and management at City Hall, since there are many irregularities in the system and some workers are given preferential treatment when disciplinary actions are being taken against them.