A row is brewing between Office of the President (OP) and the Clerical and Commercial Workers Union (CCWU) with respect to the merger of the state-owned radio and television stations and the likely dismissal of all the employees prior to the rehiring process.

Some 200 staffers at both the Guyana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) and the Guyana Television Broad-casting Company (GTV) will by January 2004 receive letters terminating their services as the two entities are merged to reduce costs.

Advisor to the President, Kellawan Lall and Information Liaison to the President Robert Persaud, at a meeting with staff at the respective entities last Wednesday informed them about the intention to severe employees prior to the merger. A number of these persons will then be rehired as necessary, informed sources told Stabroek News.

This move, Stabroek News was informed, was the necessary and normal procedure when companies were seeking to commence a new phase of operation.

However, the CCWU is crying foul at what it sees as the government’s attempt to deceive by discussing severance with workers at the entities while not sharing these details with them at a meeting held on Friday.

CCWU General Secretary, Grantley Culbard said yesterday that the government had given an undertaking to involve the union in every aspect of the process.

As a way of highlighting their disapproval, the union has written to Presidential Advisor, Lall in which it referred to the meeting of October 24.

Lall and Persaud had met with the President and General Secretary of the CCWU and while soliciting the union’s support for the proposal sought to clarify outstanding industrial relations matters regarding GTV.

The CCWU’s letter, copied to the chairpersons of the boards of GBC and GTV, the union branch reps at the agencies, the General Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) and Secretary of Federation of Independent Trade Unions in Guyana (FITUG), notes the serious misgivings it has of the process in light of the recent occurrences.

According to Culbard, there are several options that could be put on the table with respect to integrating the two entities although it is a proposal with which they have agreed in principle.

“We have to discuss a number of things...including having the right conditions in place among other things,” Culbard said.

He was adamant that the union was not prepared to venture down the road of severance especially when protecting jobs was a major focus of unions at this time.

With this in mind the union will host a joint meeting for staff of the two entities on Monday afternoon to discuss developments and use the decisions to guide the union actions.

It also proposes to alert its overseas affiliate, Union Network International.

It will hold a press conference at which the matter will be fully ventilated but not before meeting with the Privatisation Unit (PU) on Tuesday morning.

According to Culbard, the PU hurriedly called the union’s President Roy Hughes yesterday requesting a meeting for Tuesday.

He acknowledged that they would meet with them to hear what they have to say.

Persaud yesterday denied that the intention was to get rid of workers but rather was a way to address several issues including their conditions and welfare along with seeing technical updates being made.

Meanwhile, a source close to the issue acknowledged that the PU would be facilitating discussions on the merger. Reports reaching this newspaper indicated that the meeting between the OP personnel and employees of the state media entities also sought to bring them up to date on aspects of the merger.

At their meeting with the CCWU, Lall and Persaud had outlined government’s plans to integrate the two state media bodies and invited their participation in ensuring that workers at both entities were treated in keeping with collective bargaining agreements and the law.

The merger would see the two arms of the state broadcasting media, currently functioning under separate management, being brought under a single managerial structure at the GTV Homestretch Avenue complex.

Broadcasts of both radio and television would be transmitted from a single location.

Meanwhile, it has been acknowledged that personnel from the Government Infor-mation Agency, currently housed in the GTV Homestretch Avenue complex, will be relocated.

It is anticipated that they will be accommodated at the OP Complex.