GPSU among trade unions red flagged for not submitting financial returns

Transparency, accountability

GPSU among trade unions red-flagged for not submitting financial returns
In the interest of transparency, trade unions around the world are expected to file their annual returns with regulators, which include financial and membership information. But it has been revealed that a number of trade unions in Guyana owe years in returns.
According to a notice from the Trade Union Registry, gazetted on July 27, 2019, over 50 trade unions have outstanding returns. Some outstanding returns date all the way back to before World War II, as is the case with the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union (AT&GWU), which won the right to be the sole bargaining body for the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) back in 2009 and has owed returns since 1939.
One of the most recognisable names on the list is the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), which is headed by its longstanding President, Patrick Yarde. According to the notice, the GPSU has not submitted annual returns from 1949 to 1972; from 1975 to 1995; for three years from 1997; from 2003 to 2009 and from 2012 up to 2017.
It was only earlier this month that the GPSU wrote to President David Granger to request a Board of Inquiry (BoI), following what the organisation has described as “unauthorised” spending on the part of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Guyana Public Service Co-operative Credit Union Limited (GPSCCUL).
At a press conference, Yarde complained of monies being wasted on several unnecessary contracts. Some of the contracts, according to him, were in excess of US$25,000 for activities for merely six staff members.
He further charged that another $2 million was used for air conditioning, while $2.5 million was handed out by the Committee for telephone services and $1.6 million for reviewing security systems.
In June last year, the High Court, in an order, reinstated the Government-installed Interim Management Committee (IMC) at the GPSU Credit Union. This was done after High Court Justice Gino Persaud had discharged a previous interim order which was granted to the old management committee to stay the decisions of the IMC until the matter was resolved.
Another recognisable name is the Guyana Labour Union (GLU), which represents certain categories of municipal workers at City Hall. According to the notice, the Union owes annual returns for intermittent periods dating from 1960 all the way up to 2017.
The National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE), whose constituency caters largely to sugar workers, was also featured on the list having outstanding returns from 1947 to 1969 and then from 1978 to 2018.