GWI mum on rehab of hydrant near...

The Postal and Telecommunications Workers Union (PTWU) is considering taking the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) to court again after the company laid off another 15 workers last month, in breach of a court agreement.

Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday, PTWU President Harold Shepherd said nothing,” the resident had lamented.

Contacted for comment on the resident’s claims, Public Relations Officer for GWI Leana Bradshaw said that the agency did not wish to comment.

For years, fire hydrants had been in a state of disrepair, limiting the ability of the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) to access water. Their rehabilitation existed in a state of limbo, with several agencies including the GFS, GWI and City Hall denying responsibility for their maintenance.

However, GWI, under Chief Executive Officer Dr Richard Van West-Charles, started rehabilitation. He had been reported in February as saying that there were approximately 800 hydrants in the city whose locations were gradually being discovered to facilitate the process of rehabilitation.

According to the Government Information Agency (GINA) report, the CEO had told his managers at a training workshop that rehabilitation efforts would extend across Guyana to allow the fire service to access water from new and refurbished fire hydrants. “We have to work too with the Ministry of Communities’ housing department to ensure that as new communities emerge, part of that planning process is to ensure that hydrants are in the system, and that water is available in that the union’s attorney, Stanley Moore, wrote a letter to the company giving it seven days’ notice with respect to the employees whose services were terminated.

“The letter was addressed to the CEO [Justin Nedd], pointing out that the company would’ve breached the consensual order that was signed between the union case of fire to protect the residents within the communities,” the CEO reportedly said.

Regional Manager for Georgetown Curtis Niles was also reported as stating that GWI was moving to rehabilitate fire hydrants in other areas outside of central Georgetown, including in Turkeyen and South Georgetown.

Niles said that GWI had placed fire hydrants at Agricola and in front of all GWI production centres, “so that the fire service would have easy access in the event that there is a fire in those areas.”

He added that GWI was also working on a Geographic Information System (GIS) to track and identify the location of fire hydrants.

“We want to have those hydrants on the GIS, so that the fire service would know and more of our population in Georgetown would know where our hydrants are, and we’re also working with the fire service, the government and other agencies, towards having critical areas equipped with fire hydrants,” Niles stated.

Yet on Sunday, July 9, while the prison burned and debris scorched the surrounding homes, residents reported that both the marked and unmarked hydrants on Bent Street were not readily accessible and required the intervention of GWI staff. This intervention was, according to residents, received hours later. and the company on April 12 and they would’ve also acted in violation of the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act and the Collective Labour Agreement,” Shepherd said.

He added that the PTWU also requested that since the company’s actions breached the order, it should reinstate the employees until meaningful consultations are held and both parties arrive at a decision that is beneficial to all.

He said that in the event that the company does not acknowledge the letter, then the union will be forced to return to the courts or consider industrial action. “At this point in time, we have not made a determination whether we will act in conjunction or take some sort of industrial action. The union’s executives have to meet to make such a decision,” Shepherd said.

He explained that while the consent order was signed and the two parties were supposed to meet to have “meaningful” discussions, this had not happened and the two meetings that were held did not result in any meaningful conclusions. He added that the union would’ve requested information on the employees and other details about the company but GTT had never complied.

“The Acts make provisions in certain areas so the company can avoid making such a drastic decision to terminate employees. There must be mitigating circumstances, like placing employees in order departments,” he said, while pointing out that the union always protested against the company’s high number of contracted employees and suggested that some of those contracted employees could be replaced with the ones GTT wants to retrench.

In February, the telecommunications company had announced in a statement that it would be restructuring its operations and therefore 120 employees would be made “redundant.”

However, even though the company had released a statement, the PTWU had explained to Stabroek News that no consultations were done with the union, which Shepherd said was a violation of the collective labour agreement.