Close to $2 billion collected from teachers by GTU unaccounted for

Deeds and Commercials Registries Authority – was 20 years ago.

But as per the Auditor General’s report, even that was not submitted for auditing.

Union dues are automatically deducted from the salaries of the teachers and handed over to the GTU. But the government recently said it will stop doing so and has cited the lack of accountability by the Union.

A brief statement from the Deeds and Commercial Registries Authority, signed by the Registrar of Commerce, recently stated 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 1st 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.”