The question of who will head one of the largest unions in the country will be known by the end of today, as members vote to select the 13 positions in the Public Service Association (PSA). Seven candidates are set to vie for the post of president, among them incumbent Watson Duke and former acting general secretary under Duke, Nixon Callender. Approximately 17,000 public servants are expected to vote in today’s elections.
Six parties—Team Sentinel, Team Liberators, Team Phoenix, Game Changers, Team Defenders and Rebuilders—are set to contest the positions of president, first vice-president, second vice-president, general secretary, deputy general secretary, treasurer, five industrial relations officers and two trustees. The other presidential candidates are Terrence Regis (Team Phoenix), Raymond Butler (Team Defenders), Christopher Wilson (Rebuilders) and independent candidate Riki Cedeno.
The union has faced several issues, among them its financial status, the five per cent pay increase in 2011 negotiated by Duke, and a splintered union. Duke moved in April this year to suspend Callender and former treasurer Jillian Bedeau-Callender. However, the Callenders were allowed to stay. Callender earlier charged financial impropriety, saying approximately $2.5 million of the union’s funds were unaccounted for and that a report had been made to the Fraud Squad.
There has been much debate surrounding the finances of the union. In a T&T Guardian article on October 7, the union’s first vice-president, Rosanna Robertson, claimed the union had only $1 million in its account and that in 2009 the union had $7 million, adding many legal fees for Duke were paid out of the union’s finances.
The article quoted Robertson as saying,“The union is in serious financial difficulty. We have to wait until we get dues in to keep this union afloat. There are a lot of creditors who did work who have not been paid and there are some lawyers who we are still owing monies.” In another T&T Guardian exclusive, the union was said to be owing the State $14 million for a 2006 land lease at the former PSA Grounds, Long Circular Road, St James.
There were also claims by staff at the union’s head office at Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain, of poor working conditions. In newspaper ads published before today’s election, Duke’s slate of 13 promised, among other things, more HDC homes for public servants, a restructured Water and Sewerage Authority contract (WASA) so that workers would be made permanent, and the inclusion of retirees in the medical plan.
Team Rebuilders, led by Wilson, also in a full-page ad, promised to set up in-house daycare centres for public servants, adjusting the Maternity Act to increase maternity leave and to ensure retirees receive insurance coverage.