GTU’s financial documents not filed in 20 years – Deeds and Commercial Registries

The Deeds and Commercial Registries on Friday revealed that the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) has not filed its annual returns in 20 years.

A brief statement from the registry noted that it received queries from the media about the audited financial statements of the GTU and in examining the records, it found that “Annual Returns required by Section 35 of the Trade Unions Act, Cap. 98:03 to be filed annually by registered trade unions was last filed by the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) for the year ending 31st of December, 2004, on the 31st of March, 2005.”

Under this Act, unions are required to submit a “general statement of the receipts, funds, effects, and expenditure to the Registrar before the 1^st May in every year and shall show fully its assets and liabilities at the date…”

The Act states that every trade union which “fails to comply with or acts in contravention of this section, and also every officer of the union so failing, shall each be liable on summary conviction to a fine of seventy-five dollars for each offence.”

Given the fact that the GTU has not submitted its financial statements in two decades despite collecting billions of dollars in dues over the years from teachers, it runs the risk of being struck off the Trade Unions Act.

In its 2004 audited report, the GTU collected over $40 million in dues.

The GTU is currently engaged in a countrywide strike action which the government said is illegal because talks about increase in salaries and other benefits did not break down with the Ministry of Education.

The Education Ministry has already halted the deduction of union dues from the salaries of teachers and urged the GTU to make alternative arrangements.