GWI begins process of laying off workers – 76 receive dismissal letters

Jun 02, 2021 News

The Guyana Water Incorporated’s (GWI) main office located on Vlissengen Road, Georgetown.

Kaieteur News – The Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) began the process of laying off some of its employees on Monday by sending home 76 of them. Kaieteur News was able to confirm the development, yesterday with the utility company’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Leanna Bradshaw. The workers were notified of their dismissal via letter.
This newspaper is to receive a more detailed response from the GWI concerning the dismissal process, which could be over some 300 employees. The dismissal of the workers comes just days after the GWI’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Shaik Baksh disclosed during a recently held press conference that the company is gearing up to lay off a number of staff members as a result of the entity’s high wages bill and related production.
Baksh had claimed that the staffing complement was doubled by the Coalition Administration under the leadership of then CEO Dr. Richard Van West-Charles.
“When we compare 2015 to August 2020, we found that the employment numbers moved from about just over 600 in 2015 to over 1,300 in 2020,” he had told reporters.
The doubling up of the staff complement, according to Baksh, has driven the employment costs from being $96 million in 2015 to $240 million in 2020. He noted that there was a staggering 140% increase at August 2020, and related that a decision was taken by the company to undertake the rationalising of staff because it was just not sustainable for GWI.
The CEO had added too that the company had to address its financial operations saying, “We have to look at the expenses – not only employment costs, energy cost; we’re looking at other areas of operations, chemical uses and all of these things. Therefore, we had to proceed in this and we reached a stage where a number of employees will have to be terminated in accordance with the law.”
Former APNU+AFC coalition minister, David Patterson was the first to hint that GWI was planning to send home employees in a post that he had made on a social media platform. He had disclosed that 100 workers would be fired by June 1 and posited that they will use the “usual some lame excuse” that the company is financially challenged.
Patterson is of the view that the move by GWI represents another “assault on public sector workers”. He suggested too that instead of trying to solve its issue, GWI is proceeding with a witch-hunt against its employees—most of whom is suspected to be supportive of the coalition.
Kaieteur News had reported recently, however, that GWI is “cash-strapped” and could not pay its electricity bill in 2018, a year, under the coalition administration, when the company under then boss Dr. Richard Van West- Charles spent some $30M on a Christmas party and anniversary celebrations.
It was also reported last year that the company owed the Guyana Power and Light a total of $7 billion from 2018-2020. GWI’s expenditure had come under the spotlight because of its ‘cash-strapped’ state.