GUYANA Post Office Corporation (GPOC) has agreed to pay all terminal benefits to its previously laid off Casual Postal Apprentices (CPAs).

President of Guyana Postal and Telecommunications Workers Union (GPTWU), Mr. Harold Shepherd, who made the announcement at the union’s East Street, Georgetown headquarters, said Wednesday that GPOC had breached the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act 1997 (Act No.19 of 1997) and violated their Memorandum of Agreement.

He said the union is of the view that GPOC was, at no time, willing to honour its legal obligation to the CPAs, most of whom worked continuously for a whole year without a break in service.

However, the corporation will now be honouring monetary entitlements to the workers concerned, such as payment in lieu of notice and severance pay, among other benefits, including re-employment.

A CPA is an employee who is employed for a period of up to 28 days in place of another who has gone on leave or absent in some other circumstance.

According to Shepherd, the various violations and breaches, which were outlined to the corporation by Ministry of Labour officers, are clearly spelt out in the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act 1997 and the MOU between GPOC and GPTWU.

He disclosed that, after a two-day training programme, the terminated employees were re-employed after GPOC reported to the Ministry that the CPAs were hired as Postal Apprentices (PAs) following their success at set examinations.

Shepherd declared it was ironic, because GPOC Chairman, Bishop Juan Edghill had given conflicting reasons, in the media, for severing the service of the employees, stating that they did not have the required skills and were unqualified for the job.

GPTWU had previously stated that the GPOC explanation for firing the apprentices, due to its budgetary allocation being exceeded by some $10M, was “unfounded, absurd and meaningless”.

The union contended that GPOC is a service oriented organisation and, to ensure timely and proper services are provided, budgetary allocations will be exceeded.

EXCESS BURDEN
Edghill had said, at a previous press conference, that GPOC cannot continue to carry the excess burden of unregularised employment and figures, as of December 29, 2009, showed that its wage bill was more than $10M above the $25M allocated for casual workers last year.

Edghill, after a statuary meeting of the GPOC Board, had said a general consensus was reached that the services of all casual employees should be terminated by December 31, 2009.

He claimed the casuals had been told of it earlier and denied all knowledge of pending protests.

“We had no notice and we didn’t know there was a dispute,” was how Edghill reacted to picketing exercises staged by the affected workers.

He said the casuals were all laid off because GPOC did not wish to appear prejudiced by handpicking workers and the intention was not to displace anyone but to regularise the system.