Former PSU Leader Claims Victimization Over Salary Deductions

Former PSU President, Gerald Henry, says he has been functioning for two and a half years with no work to do in the public service.  This is one of several plights that Henry has cited to Love News after having his salary docked for consistent tardiness to work.  He explained that he received a letter from the government this morning, informing him that four hundred dollars will be deducted from his pay as he has been constantly late for work.  Henry admits to getting to work late, but he has attributed this to the poor scheduling of the commuter bus runs.  He is now suggesting that the government acquires buses for public officers who commute.  Additionally, Henry says that as it pertains to his salary deduction, he is being targeted after he did a 2-man protest last week in Belmopan.

Gerald Henry, Former President of the PSU: “As far as I’m concerned I believe that the letter is a retaliation to the action that myself and Sister Doreth took earlier this week on Monday. To be honest with you I expected it to have come faster than this because it usually does. It would have been the following day we would have received something but I guess they were busy trying to figure out what to use and then after that they had to figure out how to calculate and so hence the reason why I believe they took so long with it. But it’s certainly retaliation. I received no warning, it’s not only myself who arrived tardy at work. In fact she reaches work tardy at times and she lives here in Belmopan, I travel all the way from Dangriga on a daily basis so we have a lot of things sometimes the road conditions, the bus situation as everyone knows. I think people don’t understand how difficult it is from Dangriga though because in Dangriga if we don’t catch the 6:30 express that comes from all the way from Punta Gorda, if you don’t catch that 6:30 express you’re 100% sure you’re going to be late. There’s only one bus that gets us here before eight o’clock unless, as some public officers really push themselves to do and can catch the five o’clock bus which gets them here at 6:30 and I mean that’s really inconvenient to say the least.”

Reporter: So you’re not denying being late. 
Gerald Henry, Former President of the PSU: “No. No, no, no. The only thing that I would probably challenge would be some of the actual days or the times. You insist that I reach to the office on time then you do my appraisals on time as well. Just recently I as assigned a task to do in the office so this entire period from October 22 until about a month ago I was not doing absolutely anything in the office and that was on instructions of the same Auditor General.”

Love News understands that Henry’s persistent tardiness was calculated from February this year and amounted to a 400-dollar deduction.