The Guyana Labour Union (GLU) yesterday issued a 72-hour strike ultimatum to the Georgetown City Council over claims that illegal deductions were made from the salaries of members of the city constabulary.
GLU General Secretary Carvil Duncan yesterday demanded the resignation of an official who he says acted without authority.
According to Duncan, the official unilaterally deducted money from the pay of the security officers after claiming that it exceeded stipulated overtime payments.
Efforts to contact Town Clerk, Beulah Williams yesterday proved futile.
According to Duncan, the official had, without the consent of the council, deducted the money after sending a circular to all heads of department on the issue.
The official is alleged to have said that no worker should earn more than one third of his salary performing overtime duties.
According to the GLU head, this decision was never communicated to workers. He also said that several heads of department were themselves not in agreement with the measure.
Duncan said that Mayor Hamilton Green when contacted on the issue had said that he was not aware of the issue.
"So they [security officers] worked as normal for the last two weeks and when they collected their salary yesterday [Thursday] they saw they had only received one third of their overtime pay," Duncan told this newspaper.
Duncan further said that such a move, apart from being contrary to the labour laws, was also contrary to a normal contract of employment where a person is paid for the work he performs.