Region 10 janitorial staff complain of unsatisfactory working conditions

…40 workers will not be eligible for pension – GPSU rep

Region 10 (Upper Demerara- Berbice) Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) Representative Maurice Butters has spoken against what he believes is the unfair treatment meted out to over 40 janitorial ‘open vote’ workers in the Region, who he noted have complained of working under unsatisfactory conditions.
At the helm of the complaints of these workers Butters said, is that when they retire at age 60, they are not eligible to any pension based on the onerous fact that they are employed through the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) and not the Public Service Commission.
These 40 persons are employed as janitorial staff at various schools.
In an interview with Guyana Times last week, Butters, who also serves as Industrial Relations Officer, said he recently met with the affected workers who were vocal in their concerns.
Butters explained that ‘open vote’ workers are those who upon commencing work are placed on ‘probation’ but after fulfilling the

necessary requirements are not made permanent.
According to him, upon retirement such employees are only subject to receive gratuity payment, which he noted as “unfair” since there are others, employed through the Public Service Commission who are eligible to receive pension.
Presently he said, there are several ‘open vote’ workers who have been in the system for over 19 years and are close to retirement but given the circumstances will not receive pension.
According to him the issue has been brought to the attention of both the previous and present Administrations, but the situation has remained the same.
Butters explained that the former government had agreed to have such workers be made permanent, but this never materialised.
“We (GPSU) had a meeting with the present government since last year which also gave us a commitment and we were hoping that by now things would have progressed but there has not been any positive movement. We would like if the process can speed up, since many of these employees are approaching the retirement age. We would like to know that this matter is sorted out so that those people can retire with pension,” the GPSU representative stated.
Butters explained further that these employees are sometimes made to work under substandard conditions and it is time the relevant authorities look into their plight.