Twelve names submitted for arbitration panel chairman --mediators, govt, unions meet Stabroek News June 26, 1999 The naming of a chairman for the arbitration panel which would adjudicate the pay dispute between the government and public service unions was set in motion yesterday at a meeting of the parties to the back-to-work agreement. The agreement was brokered by a mediation panel comprising representatives of the Guyana Council of Churches, the Private Sector, the Guyana Bar Association and the Guyana Trades Union Congress and brought an end to the almost eight-week work stoppage by the country's public servants. Sources told Stabroek News that yesterday's meeting looked at how it would address the process of selecting a chairman from among the six names each submitted by the government and unions. The sources declined to disclose the names which were submitted but did concede that there were no names common to both lists. However, they have discussed a number of other names and it was agreed that the government and union representatives would consult their respective constituencies about the names which were floated. Under the terms of agreement the two sides have an eight-day deadline to name the chairman of the arbitration panel which will have 60 days within which to complete its work. The agreement also provides for the continued engagement of the mediation panel in monitoring the implementation of the terms of resumption. The agreement was hammered out in a series of separate meetings with the unions and government negotiators and with the panel bringing the two sides together for the final two meetings. Sources who witnessed the negotiations told Stabroek News that success in ending the strike was achieved by the way the wide range of skills and experience which the mediators took the process were coordinated. A © page from: Guyana: Land of Six Peoples