Guyana Govt making moves to upgrade post offices

The Government is redesigning the services being offered by post offices to increase its revenue stream.
Public Telecommunications Minister Cathy Hughes shared how this would be done at the Guyana Postal and Telecommunication Workers’ Union 21 Delegates (second triennial) Conference at the Union’s East Street headquarters on Sunday.

The Minister has committed to ensuring there was an increase in agency fees. “These services have been totally not looked at, not supported…and it’s about time we changed it,” Minister Hughes said.
According to the Department of Public Information (DPI), the Government is also examining other payment methods for the distribution of pension. The cost has become astronomical for the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC), the Minister acknowledged.
There are also plans to upgrade the infrastructure of a number of post offices beginning in Regions Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam); Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and Six (East Berbice- Corentyne).
Minister Hughes noted that the objective was to provide the modern-day services demanded by customers. “Our vision is that we will utilise more ICT to transform Guyana and particularly, the Post Office,” she said.
Guyana has 67 post offices across the country, and Minister Hughes envisions these being centres for accessing other Government services as well as serving as Internet hubs and providing other postal delivery services.
Already, the recently-upgraded Kitty Post Office is providing Internet services to the community.
The Government is advancing ICT use in a number of its agencies. Under the Public Telecommunications Ministry, some 94 educational institutions now provide free Wi-Fi.
Minister Hughes also noted that the Administration was working to liberalise the telecommunications sector, in order to break the monopoly by the GTT.
Meanwhile, the Minister charged the Union to do more to educate members on their rights and recourses available to them as workers. The GPTWU Conference is being held under the theme “The Preservation of Rights and the Rule of Law from Exploitation”.
The DPI said Minister Hughes also publicly committed to lobbying for duty-free concessions and subventions for the sector.
Union President Harold Shepherd noted that the last three years have been challenging for the body particularly in defending the issue of workers’ rights.
The Union is addressing a number of industrial relation issues with GTT before the Labour Department.
Shepherd noted, however, through the Government subvention the Union receives, it is working to build the capacity of its members through training. He acknowledged the labour movement and unions “must adapt or become obsolete”, as they work to defend workers’ rights in a world being changed by technological advances.