AFC Member of Parliament (MP) Trevor Williams, on Thursday, tabled a petition on behalf of retired employees of Guyana Telecommunications Corporation (GTC), active servants of Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) and Guyana Postal and Telecommunications Workers Union (GPTWU).

And the House voted to send the appeal to a Parliamentary Select Committee, as it addresses a request by retired and active employees of the utility to be paid in accordance with the Pensions Act, which is enshrined in the Constitution of Guyana.
The measure also calls for the Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh to state the reason preventing the responsible agency from affecting payment of the correct remuneration that is just and due to pensioners and when it would be effected.
The petition was seconded by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) frontbencher Carl Greenidge, who noted that the matter of pensions payment is long outstanding and should be dealt with fairly and expeditiously, a process the Select Committee will ensure.
The petitioners are asking that: “Whereas by way of correspondence dated February 10, 2000, from Mr. Winston Brassington, Executive Secretary and Head of the Privatisation Unit to Ms. Carol Hebert, former Secretary to the Treasury, on the payment of pension benefits to former employees of GTC, he stated that it was the Privatisation Unit’s view that those employees who would have fallen in this bracket and would have attained the age of 55 and were still employed by GT&T should have been paid their retirement benefits because it was monies already earned by them and in fact they should have been paid since 1991 when the company was privatised as is the practice.
“He also stated that there were several employees who had accepted the termination offer and had not yet been paid. He recommended that those employees also be paid their pension and gratuity as computed as at January 31, 1991.
“And whereas by way of correspondence, dated January 31, 2001, addressed to Mr. Winston Brassington, Executive Secretary and Head of the Privatisation Unit, Lot 126 Barrack Street, Kingston, Georgetown, from Mr. Godfrey Statia, Consultant, Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company, on the valuation of GT&T Pension Fund, he informed Mr. Brassington that ‘Emanating from his letter of October 11, 2000, he had met with representatives in late October 2000 and, at that meeting, it was agreed that it would have been futile to continue discussions or make any decisions until the amount needed to be invested by the Government into the fund, so as to allow for the unification of plans for the benefit of past GTC employees who were in the employ of GT&T and for whom the Government is liable for the payment of pensions based on the terms of the purchase agreement between the Guyana Government and ATN, was ascertained.
“And whereas with reference to the Agreement of Sale between the Government of Guyana and Atlantic Tele Network, with respect to employees’ crossover from the Guyana Telecommunication Corporation to Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company, Mr. Winston Brassington, Executive Secretary and Head of the Privatisation Unit, in a correspondence dated February 10, 2000, to Ms. Carol Hebert, Secretary to the Treasury of the Ministry of Finance, on the payment of pension benefit to former employees of GT&T stated that ‘employees will continue in employment with GT&T and their services will be treated as continuous and unbroken and other conditions of service will not be less favourable than which they enjoyed and that they were guaranteed employment with GT&T for a period of eighteen (18) months, subject, of course, to right of the management to dismiss or discharge them for cause’.”
The petition was premised on the recognition of the enormous contributions and sustained development of telecommunications in Guyana, through years of dedicated service by retired employees of the GT&T and former employees of the GTC.

(By Vanessa Narine)