Unfixed employee issue to be resolved soon – City Hall’s HR tells CoI

The ongoing feud by retired and current employees against the Mayor and City Council for an unfixed agenda of working without any benefits will be resolved in the near future.
This is the statement made by the Human Resources Manager, Paula Braithwaite, who told the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) that the process of working for 10 additional years minus benefits is a fair practice.
However, Legal Assistant Sherwin Benjamin posed the thought as to how the process is fair, since many persons would have worked their entire life at the Council and received no money at the end of their service. He explained that this is indeed an “unfair employment regime”.
“Imagine you have persons who work all their work lives and would leave without having pension. Is that fair?” he questioned.
Braithwaite then told the Commission that officials of the Guyana Labour Union and City Hall would have discussed the issue and it was agreed upon that the persons would be placed under the fixed agenda after working for over seven years.
“If it’s seven years and over, all of them would be placed on the fixed establishment and will receive benefits accordingly and persons seven years and under, they will remain on the unfixed agenda,” said the Human Resources Manager.
This generally means that they would work until the age of 55 and retire with a severance package and insurance; as opposed to working until the age of 65 with no benefits.
For many years, persons have been subjected to this condition of work and there have been numerous complaints that were submitted to the Commission. The only shocking situation behind this decision is that the Union did not mention this and nor did the respective staffers of the Council.
Over the past week, President of the Guyana Local Government Officers Union, Wendy DeCunha also voiced her disagreement with the Council, calling for all employees to receive their benefits.
DeCunha noted that during her witness statement, the Union tried to engage City Hall, but the relationship has been “confrontational”.
Kenrick Hamilton is one such employee, who achieved no benefits after serving over 20 years. At the current age of 55, he is hoping that the system can be rectified so that other employees can retire with a pension package.