Daniels Sacked By Govt
CHAIRMAN of the dissident Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (F1TUG) and President of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), Mr. George Daniels has been dismissed from his substantive government job.
His dismissal as Principal Assistant Secretary in the Agriculture Ministry is effective from March 1 this year and this means he loses all his monetary benefits, including pension rights and gratuity after working for about 20 years with the Ministry.
Daniels was out of the country this week and was expected over the weekend but GPSU General Secretary, Mr. Leslie Melville declared the government’s action was “blatant discrimination against Daniels for his stand on union activities.
“We expected this. This is being played to a written score set a long time ago,” Melville claimed.
DISMISSAL He added, “the score called for the dismissal of Daniels but they didn’t want to dismiss him while he was President Congress.”
Daniels’ tenure as TUC President ended last September and with the subsequent formation of FITUG with Daniels as Chairman, he has been under steady pressure from government.
The Daniels’ impasse with government has been longstanding but escalated after his union came out against the controversial Constitutional Amendment Bill 1988 which government passed in Parliament to reverse a Court of Appeal ruling. of the Trades Union
AWOL The GPSU protest evoked an order in March from the Public Service Commission (PSC) that Daniels report back for duty with government.
In 1976 he had been seconded from the ministry to full-time duty, with the GPSU which Melville sad was in keeping with Public Service rules.
Daniels did not heed the March back-to-work order as this would have jeopardised his union presidency and he got the backing of his union for the decision.
The letter of dismissal dated December 7 informed the - union Daniels was fired for “being absent from duty without leave.”
Melville charged that the government’s action against Daniels stemmed from his position on issues that affected the welfare and wellbeing of his members.
PROTEST “Daniels and the union protested against the use of our members in a picketing exercise in support of the Constitution Amendment Bill. We said we also did not agree with the Bill and that seemed to have offended the political directorate.” he said. “Then they directed him to go out back to work; we tried to get them to vary this, they refused to do that and the union instructed Daniels not to report back to work.
“This shows us how the government normally reacts. They waited until such time as Daniels was no longer President of the TUC before they dismissed him because they know if they had done so probably, there would have been a hue and a cry in certain circles.”