…as arbitration Chairman proposed
As the Labour Department on Tuesday made a proposal for Professor Leyland Lucas, Dean of the University of Guyana’s (UG) School of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation (SEBI) to be selected as the Chairman to lead the arbitration panel, the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) claimed that they it is being bullied.
The Union is not in agreement with the selection and is requesting that they be given a chance to first review the Curriculum Vitae (CV) of Lucas.
GTU’s General Secretary, Coretta McDonald explained that the fact that the selection process is flawed and it is a clear indication that the Union’s Executives are being bullied by the Labour Department.
However, Chief Labour Officer (CLO) Charles Ogle maintains that the selection and overall process is above board and further denied that Lucas’s private engagement with Labour Minister, Keith Scott which occurred after the meeting was a “secret meeting” as is the claim of the Union.
A second meeting is expected to be held on Wednesday at 13:00h for further discussions regarding the proposed Chairman.
Just over a week ago, the Ministry of Social Protection said it will be nominating a chairman on behalf of the Ministry of Education (MOE), to head the Arbitration Panel for the ministry and the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU).
The Department of Labour said that the two parties have failed to agree on a common chairman, and in keeping with the provisions of the extant Collective Labour Agreement between themselves, the Education Ministry sought the intervention of the Ministry of Social Protection to nominate the chairman.
Moreover, the Social Protection Ministry said it agreed to satisfy the request of the Ministry of Education and has since written to the President of the Teachers’ Union indicating its acceptance of the Ministry of Education’s request.
Prior to that meeting, a meeting held between the two parties to nominate a chairman for the Arbitration Tribunal ended with an impasse, as neither of the parties accepted the names submitted by the other.
The ministry had proposed as its nominees Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Telecommunications, Derrick Cummings, and Human Resource Manager of the Guyana Revenue Authority, Glendon Harris as the possible head of the panel.
The GTU presented as their nominees former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rashleigh Jackson, Dr Aubrey Armstrong and former Minister of Education, Labour and Regional Development, Jeffrey Thomas.
Union President Mark Lyte had argued that the Ministry rejected their nominees without reason, while they rejected the Ministry’s due to no confidence issues.
