GPSU to tackle sending of public servants on leave
By Courtney Jones
The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) is preparing to take on government over the issue of public servants being sent off their jobs, in some cases with full pay, although wrongdoing has not been proven against them in the courts. President of the union, Patrick Yarde, told Stabroek News yesterday that he estimated that some 40 public servants, the vast majority of them employees of the Customs and Excise Department, have been granted special leave by the Public Service Commission (PSC) since around December 1992. Yarde noted that Comptroller of Customs, Clarence Chue, Deputy Comptroller, Harold Bahadur and Assistant Commissioner, Douglas Linton, were the first to be affected. After a long court battle, Chue was reinstated in controversial circumstances in which the GPSU played a major role. Bahadur and Linton were never charged by the police. "What is strange is that government can afford to have more than thirty-five officers on paid leave, whether on half or full pay while at the same time saying that it is cash strapped as it relates to paying better salaries and emoluments to public servants", Yarde said. The GPSU head said that the union had long called for a public enquiry into this whole affair but that this has not been given any priority by government. He said that all the public servants were of the view that they were being unfairly treated by government since there was always the perception that they were off the job because they had committed some infraction of the law and the public service rules. "In many cases people have very lucrative jobs and in effect are receiving two salaries. However, it is my understanding that almost all these people would resign from the public service if they are reinstated. They just want their names cleared by the Public Service Commission" (PSC), Yarde explained. He said that as a consequence the GPSU was not prepared to have the PSC procrastinate on this matter any longer. "Under the constitution of this country, the Commission has been mandated to deal with these matters and we feel that they have been deliberately wasting time", he added. Yarde said the PSC has had enough time, more than six years to deal with the issues. The union accused the body of tardiness which he says has contributed to the "suffering and the frustration" of the public servants concerned. "The whole tardiness of their approach seems to have some bearing on the perception that the issue has political implications and we are giving the commission a final opportunity to streamline its act", Yarde disclosed. Yarde said that he held a meeting with some of the affected public servants yesterday and that it was now time for the union to take matters into its own hands. He said that he has already indicated to the PSC that the union will be devoting its energies towards "righting this latest injustice done to workers". Chairman of the PSC, former Guyana High Commissioner to Canada, Brindley Benn, was not available for comment despite repeated efforts by this newspaper to contact him.
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