The highest-ranking organ within the island’s largest public sector union is meeting in a crucial session this week to chart a new course for the organisation even as it grappled with a fresh controversy on Monday.
The latest contention surrounds allegations circulating on social media with the potential to damage the reputation of acting General Secretary of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) Wayne Walrond.
The author of the claims is also calling on members of the union to drop out in light of these allegations targeted at Walrond, who has already indicated that he is likely to sue all 138 signatories to a resolution that failed during a special general conference last week that was designed to create the new post of Secretary General for incumbent president Akanni McDowall.
NUPW Council member Fabian Jones labelled the “rumours” against Walrond as nasty and untrue.
Barbados TODAY understands that “someone in a privileged position” in the union circulated legitimate confidential documents but attached “fabricated” information to them.
Jones explained that the person who initiated the reports falsely linked Walrond’s spending on his private legal matter with that of the union’s expenditure on a separate and distinct internal legal issue.
While confirming the legitimacy of a $9,000 NUPW cheque made out to a lawyer, an invoice from the attorney for the sum and a payment voucher prepared by the union, Jones sought to make it clear that these funds were approved by the council on behalf of the organisation and not for the acting General Secretary’s private affairs.
In explaining exactly what the money is for, Jones said the state of affairs of the union, including this “breach of protocol” and “nasty” occurrence, will be addressed by the council during a meeting sometime this week.
He said that having been faced with a constitutional crisis resulting from the submission of the resolution to create the post of Secretary General, the council gave the acting General Secretary and his deputy Richard Greene permission to seek a legal opinion.
“Pre-June 17, this situation with the president put the union in a situation of a constitutional crisis. So council met and decided that the union needs a legal opinion and they gave the general secretary and the deputy general secretary the permission to seek a legal opinion in relation to this constitutional crisis that we were faced with as a result of the secretary general proposal,” said the council official.
“Mr Walrond’s lawsuit is a separate matter he is dealing with privately from his own funds,” Jones, who will be challenging McDowall for the presidency in next month’s general election, declared.
He declined to offer any comment on how copies of the cheque, the invoice from the attorney and the requisition order could have reached into the public domain. However, sources indicated that union officials are giving consideration to some scenarios.
This media house has obtained all of the documents and has observed that the payment voucher dated June 17, 2021 was authorized by the acting General Secretary, certified by the General Treasurer, checked by the accountant but the president’s signature is absent from the “approved” column.
“It [the rumour] is a very nasty occurrence…but it shows the extent to which some persons are willing to go to…because attached to that rumour is also a call for persons to drop out of the union. So that is terrible and it puts us in a situation now where we are seeking to have a meeting…it could be as early as tomorrow to deal with this matter,” the council official revealed.
“Clearly we have had some breach of protocol there. You don’t take pictures of people’s invoices and circulate like that and then attach mistruths to it.
“This is not in relation to the law suit [Walrond’s] at all. This is in relation to the union seeking a legal opinion and naturally that would be facilitated by the general secretary and his deputy…and that is how it went down,” the council member announced.
He said this week’s meeting will tackle the filling of the posts of general secretary and deputy general secretary among other issues.
“The meeting is basically aiming to address the outcome of the meeting on June 17 and discuss the way forward. And in that meeting we hope to discuss matters in relation to how to prevent that [creation of new posts] from happening again and to also move forward to discuss the internal process of filling the GS and deputy GS posts,” Jones told Barbados TODAY.
Jones pointed out that those two officers were acting for six months and would need to have their positions updated.
He said the meeting will also address this latest issue related to the claims against Walrond.
When contacted, Walrond declined to comment and efforts to reach the president proved unsuccessful.
(emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb)
