THE Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) said it has written Health Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Malcolm Watkins, asking that deductions made from the March 2021 salaries of nurses at the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC), for alleged absent days from 2018 to 2020, be reversed.
Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton, meanwhile, said that he is encouraging the nurses to make official reports with the Ministry of Labour (MoL) representative in Linden, so that the matter can be investigated and properly resolved.
“If an employee has a labour grievance, the proper thing to do is to come to the Ministry of Labour and report it so that it can be investigated. There’s nothing in the law that allows a union carte blanche to make a report of that sort. The nurses are employees, they have to come and report the matter to us. Presently, we have in Linden a Labour Officer that is appointed,” Minister Hamilton noted when contacted on Wednesday.

At a press conference held on Wednesday at its headquarters at Regent Street, the union said because the deductions are for alleged absent days for the period 2018 – 2020, the deductions would be in contravention of the Termination and Severance Pay Act which stipulates a statute of limitations that labour matters must be investigated within six months with a view of disciplinary actions.
The union also said that the deductions fall in contravention of Section 23 of the Labour Laws which speaks to deductions from the salaries of an employee not being allowed to exceed one third of the employee’s salary for that month.
Minister Hamilton said, however, that he could not comment on the legality of the matter until he has all the details. But he said that the GPSU should refrain from conclusively deciding on the matter until it has all the details.

“GPSU can’t make a conclusion on the matter. They have already concluded what the investigation will be, you can’t have it both ways,” Minister Hamilton advised.
Present at Wednesday’s press conference was GPSU Vice-President, Dawn Gardener and GPSU President, Patrick Yarde.
According to Gardener, some of the nurses from the Hospital, due to the deductions some nurses received as little as $3,000 on their March 2021 net salary.
“Several nurses are now in a state of depression causing the union to explore the need for counselling,” Gardener said.
This new situation arises even as the nurses continue their protest action calling for the removal of the LHC Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Rudy Small, over the “sweet man” remarks he made some weeks ago. The union has since written to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Malcolm Watkins, calling on him to have the deductions rescinded and have the nurses paid their money. “The GPSU remains hopeful that good sense will prevail, and the Ministry of Health will change course and deal with this impasse in an appropriate manner,” Gardener said. The union copied the letter to the Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony; Minister of Public Service, Sonia Parag; Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr. Vindyha Persaud; Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton; Prime Minister Mark Phillips and the President, Dr Irfaan Ali.