Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jul 12, 2008 News
– 29 employees claim they never signed deduction forms…
The Guyana Labour Union (GLU) is threatening to “walk the streets” if the Woodlands Hospital refuses to meet with the union within 72 hours for a meeting to discuss an ongoing issue related to some of the workers at the hospital.
General Secretary of the GLU, Carvil Duncan, says that some of the members have been told by officials at the hospital that, if they join the union, then they will be fired.
According to Duncan, forms were sent to the hospital requesting that the union dues be deducted from those members represented by the GLU.
However, although 93 forms were submitted to the hospital for deduction, only thirty-two deductions were granted. Duncan says that the hospital refused to grant permission for the others, as they claim that the forms were not authentic.
The general secretary noted that members have complained that they have been called into the office of the Personnel Officer at the hospital and questioned as to why they joined the GLU, and who encouraged them to be part of the union.
According to Duncan, some members were also told that they would be fired if they should ever become a member of the Guyana Labour Union.
This, Duncan says, is a breach of the Recognition Agreement signed between Woodlands Hospital Limited and the Guyana Labour Union.
A letter has since been sent by the GLU to the Woodlands Hospital requesting that the two parties meet within 72 hours to discuss the issue.
According to the General Secretary, if there is no discussion within that time frame, then the GLU will resort to strike action.
It has also been reported that the hospital has been antagonizing the workers who are members of the union.
Duncan says the situation has reached the stage where the union’s shop steward was issued with a termination letter.
Upon investigation by the union, it was discovered that the allegations were all trumped up.
It is this that has led the union to conclude that the attitude of the hospital towards the members of the union is tantamount to union busting. This, according to Duncan, is causing the workers to operate under serious mental strain.
A source from the Woodlands Hospital, who is close to the ongoing matter between the two parties, told this newspaper that the claim being made by the GLU is far from the truth.
The source explained that some of the workers have disclosed that they have never seen the deduction forms which bear the signature of 95 workers at the hospital.
This has now led the hospital to believe that some of the signatures have been forged.
The source explained that after some of the workers realized that monies were being deducted from their salaries, they enquired and found out that $600 is being taken out of their salaries for union dues at the end of every month.
It was then that some staff members said that they are not part of the union.
Woodlands Hospital now has a total of 26 staff members whose signatures are on the forms for deduction of union dues, who are now claiming that they are not members of the GLU and that they never signed the said form.
The source also noted that the hospital cannot threaten to fire any staff because they are a member of the union. According to the source, it is their right to be part of the GLU.
However, it was also revealed that Woodlands Hospital and the Guyana Labour Union are slated to meet sometime on Monday to discuss the matter.
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