SCORES of managers from the Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) on Wednesday protested outstanding welfare and other matters in front of the power company’s Main Street office.
The Chronicle understands that another such protest is planned for today (Thursday) at the same location and that more ‘definite’ actions will be pursued, should there be no positive response from the company.

The utility company wrote the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) on Wednesday seeking a meeting on April 4, but the union is saying that the matters in question have been outstanding since 2016.

Union President Patrick Yarde believes that GPL hurried and wrote a letter seeking engagement when it got word of the protest.
“We are disgusted with the unprofessional and insensitive manner in which GPL has been treating with its workers, especially the Human Resource Officer Paul Persaud,” Yarde told the Guyana Chronicle.

The union has been lodging complaints from time to time and has even copied letters to the government on the issues facing the workers. Last December, Yarde said he met with GPL’s management and felt the parties had reached a stage where the issues were going to be corrected.

“If you can treat your managers that way, what does it say about how you will treat the rest of employees?” Yarde pointed out.
He said a commitment was made at the December meeting that the matters would have been dealt with expeditiously in January and a legally binding agreement was established on how the parties would have proceeded from then on, with GPL eventually breaching the terms.

“We will not be putting up with this nonsense anymore. We will stand firm. A curriculum was issued and I signed it. This is an initial step to signal to the general public the plight of these workers,” Yarde explained.

Public Relations Officer at GPL, Chevon Sears, said she was unable to comment on the issue and directed this publication to the executive management.
The chief executive officer of the power company could not be reached for comment.