I WOULD like to express a few concerns about the recently-concluded 22nd Delegates Conference held by the GPSU from September 27–29, 2017. The conference was held with the aim of installing the newly- elected executive members from the just-concluded, highly controversial elections.
At the conference, members were informed that the GPSU accounts for the year 2003 – 2004 have now been completed, despite the fact that rule No.13 states clearly that the accounts of the union SHALL be audited by the 1st May each year. The only logical question that follows is: why has the union not been audited for the last 13 years?
To compound the problem, the contesting parties that had challenged the incumbent executives and President for leadership of the union were barred from attending the conference because they had asked for the union’s audit in keeping with the rules of the organisation.

Isn’t it unreasonable for members to request an account in keeping with the rules of how their dues are being managed? Rather than dealing with the issues, the current president chose to take a subjective avenue rather than an objective one. His answer to dealing with this was to read a letter that was written by one of his supporters to the conference, telling members that Karen Vansluytman had attacked the character of his supporter and that Ms. Vansluytman should be condemned and be held accountable.
During the elections, Ms. Vansluytman was branded by this same union leader as a non-member, yet a concocted matter which was a clear conspiracy was so important that it was ventilated in her absence without her being able to exercise her constitutional right to due process.

While the matter of the election and violation of the rules have now engaged the court and a ruling is expected on the 6th November 2017, one cannot help noticing the hypocrisy of this leadership that expects the current government to reintroduce the Agency Fees agreement to an organisation that is not accountable for members’ finances and is plagued with dishonesty and corruption.
This union leader has banned all of the persons from the membership who have challenged him for leadership as well as potential challengers for the leadership of the Guyana Public Service Union. Any quick research will show that names such as Karen Vansluytman, Gregory Gasper, Jermain Hermanstyne, etc. are now no longer members of the union, because their dues are no longer accepted. Is this democracy? This union leader is clearly running the organisation as private property.

I would like to appeal to President David Granger to notice the many strides the government has made over the past year in stamping out corruption. Therefore, Mr. President, you cannot afford the credibility of your government to be tainted by a few who want to control the workforce by occupying the chairmanship of the Public Service Commission which is another highly controversial matter, since it is a clear conflict of interest as well as the GPSU at the same time.
Finally, I wish to warn that a movement seems to be in place to have the first vice-president run the GPSU if the government makes a decision that this union leader has to choose between the union and the commission. That system will mean that he will continue to run one organisation from the background, while running the other in the forefront.
This must not be allowed to happen.

Regards,
Jermain Hermanstyne,
Public sector employee