Fired PSA workers eye legal action against Duke

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Terminated employees of the Public Services Association media room are contemplating legal action against the union president Watson Duke and the PSA.

The news came as Duke made it clear that he did nothing wrong by sending staff on annual leave and terminating services of independent contractors at his union.

Two weeks since the PSA President and his executive were voted into office for a third term that word came that the union executive had sent 20 workers on annual leave and the termination of services of all independent contractors.

The PSA President told Guardian Media via telephone that the staff who were sent on annual vacation leave were in contravention of the collective agreement between the PSA and the Bankers Insurance and General Workers union where an annual vacation cannot be rolled over into another fiscal year.

On the issue of letters of termination circulating on social media, the PSA President explained the union terminated services of staff members from the PSA Media room.

He said these workers were classified as independent contractors and the executive decided to terminate their services since it was no longer in line with the mandate of the union, which is undertaking a restructuring process.

Guardian Media understands these workers were on a three-month contract and it was scheduled to end in December.

Duke added, “It is quite clear that we are concerned about the state of delivery of services to our members, we believe that our members are paying money so we must start cleaning and addressing these issues within the PSA from now.”

Guardian Media spoke to staff from the media room who are now contemplating legal action against the union on the grounds of unlawful termination.

Meanwhile, the workers who were sent on annual leave are adopting a wait and see approach before deciding their next course of action. They said the PSA President attempted to terminate them before and they won their matter at the Industrial Court.

They added they hope this action to send them on annual leave is not just another ploy to attempt to terminate them via the route of redundancy.