Trade Unions challenge exclusion from Constitutional Reform Commission

The Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) and the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) have filed an action in the High Court to stop the Constitutional Reform Commission (CRC) from carrying out any of its functions, duties or obligations, until a nominee representing the Labour Movement would have been appointed in accordance with Section 4 of the Constitution Reform Commission Act No. 16 of 2022.

The action which has been filed by Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde on behalf of 2nd Vice President of the GTU, Julian Cambridge and General Secretary of the GPSU, Kempton Alexander wants Aslim Singh removed as the trade union’s representative on the CRC.

Cambridge and Alexander are maintaining that the labour movement was not consulted about who should be the workers’ representative as required under Section 4 of the Constitution Reform Commission Act No. 16 of 2022.

They are seeking a court declaration that “the appointment by the President of Guyana pursuant to Section 4 of the Constitution Reform Commission Act No. 16 of 2022 of Aslim Iqubal Singh to be a member of the Constitution Reform Commission as a nominee of the Labour Movement is procedurally irrational, null, void and of no legal effect.”

The court filing is also seeking: “A Declaration that the appointment by the President of Guyana pursuant to Section 4 of the Constitution Reform Commission Act No. 16 of 2022 of Aslim Iqubal Singh to be a member of the Constitution Reform Commission as a nominee of the Labour Movement without any consultation as envisaged and provided for in the Preamble to the Constitution of Guyana, Article 13 of the Constitution of Guyana, the Constitution Reform Commission Act No. 16 of 2022 and is procedurally irrational, null, void and of no legal effect.”

The parties who have named the Attorney General as the respondent are also seeking: “A Declaration that the failure to engage in any consultation with the constituent Labour Unions which in Guyana constitute the Labour Movement as referred to in Section 4 of the Constitution Reform Commission Act No. 16 of 2022 renders the said Constitution Reform Commission not lawfully and validly constituted.”

“A Declaration that the Constitution Reform Commission Act No. 16 of 2022 is inconsistent as it seeks to establish a Commission and confer the said Commission with functions which are exclusively vested in the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Constitutional Reform by Article 119 A of the Constitution of Guyana.”

The Applicants want the High Court to issue: “An Order directing the Constitution Reform Commission not to act or engage in any of the functions, duties and obligations conferred on the said Constitution Reform Commission pursuant to its Constitution Reform Commission until a nominee representing the Labour Movement would have been appointed in accordance with Section 4 of the Constitution Reform Commission Act No. 16 of 2022 after consultations with the Labour Unions constituting the Labour Movement.”

The court filings say on the 3rd of April, 2024, certain persons swore their Oaths of Office as members of the Constitution Reform Commission.

Amongst the persons who swore an Oath of Office as a member of the Constitution Reform Commission was Aslim Iqubal Singh, as a nominee representing the Labour Movement.

Mr Singh is General Secretary of the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) which is associated with the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP). That union is also an affiliate of the breakaway Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana which appears to enjoy a cozy relationship with the PPP.

The applicants listed 19 labour organisations, and said that they checked with 15 of them who said they were never consulted to submit the name of any person to be the nominee of the labour movement. (WiredJA)