The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Incorporated, has reportedly fired some 102 employees within the space of two months to cut costs and to meet a 6% Salary increase for staff which was paid out this year.
In an interview yesterday with one of the dismissed employees, he told Credible Sources that since he was sent home he has been struggling to provide for himself and his family. The man who was attached to Transmission and Distribution, Sophia, and wished not to be named, told us that he worked with GPL for almost ten years, and just like that he was sent home. “Ah suffer a lot of injuries at GPL…..at present GPL left meh with a permanent back pain when it start ah does can’t even work,” the father of five told us.
He also complained of not being paid what is owed to him by the company. “The company presently owe me one month salary, they only give me my last month’s salary… not benefits, nothing.” In May of this year, APNU+AFC Member of Parliament Vinceroy Jordan blasted the Guyana Water Inc CEO Shiek Baksh for boasting of firing 300 staff. The MP also called out the GWI CEO for “witch-hunting” of staff perceived to be aligned to the APNU+AFC.
Jordan said that it is unbelievable to even imagine that the head of a government agency had the nerve to sit at a press conference and boastfully speak of the dismissal of over 300 staff members. At a press conference a week earlier that time the CEO of GWI declared that the dismissal of some 322 employees will save the company some GY $240 million. A statement MP Jordan called “hogwash” and “unbelievable.”
The National Assembly two weeks ago approved a $4 billion allocation for GPL as part of a larger $44.8 billion supplementary funding the government has requested. During the consideration of the request, Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh sought to blame the APNU+AFC Government for the crisis GPL is experiencing. He posited that the monies will go towards addressing the “tremendous liquidity and cash flow crisis” the PPP/C government inherited within GPL in 2020.
Back in 2012 GPL underwent what was called “structural adjustment” which saw the laying off of hundreds of pensionable workers. Many such workers came from the Emergency and maintenance department.
The recent dismissal of staff attached to GPL’s Transmission and Distribution Department, adds to the nearly 8,000 public Servants who have lost their jobs since the Irfaan Ali-led PPP regime was installed into office in August 2022.
More, in The Ring.
