THE NEW TODAY understands that moves are afoot to end prematurely the Presidency of Brian Grimes as leader of the Public Workers Union (PWU).
According to a longstanding member of the union, this is “something that is being planned” against Grimes who is into his first term as PWU boss and that some persons are currently studying the Constitution of the union to see if it is possible to bring down the leader before elections are held.
He said that some PWU members are looking forward to the holding of an extraordinary general meeting of the union before year-end to introduce a vote of no confidence motion against the President in particular and also the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Daisy Hazzard.
“Members are looking to see what they can use in the constitution to call a Vote of No-confidence in Grimes,” he said, adding that “people, really, really upset” with the way their union leader and Hazzard are handling a number of issues.
There appears to be deep division within the ranks of the PWU following the stand taken by Grimes and Hazzard on the Carriacou issue in which some workers were sent home following the June 23 change of administration.
THE NEW TODAY is trying to confirm the status of 1st Vice-President of the PWU, Fimbar Thomas who has reportedly resigned over the manner in which Grimes and Hazzard are handling the Carriacou matter.
When contacted on phone, Thomas promised to call back but all attempts to reach him in recent days proved futile.
However, a union member who engaged Thomas over the weekend quoted him as saying that he believes the PWU leadership should have met with the Dickon Mitchell-led Congress government first to hear from them before coming into the public domain with the Carriacou issue.
He accused Grimes and Hazzard of calling him into a meeting and trying “to talk down to him as though he’s a little child.”
“The thing is Fimbar is not this confrontational person,” he said.
A senior PWU member told THE NEW TODAY that the union did receive a resignation letter from Thomas and accepted it after some deliberations.
However, another source quoted Thomas on Wednesday as saying that he did submit an unsigned resignation letter to the PWU and has since recalled it.
According to the senior PWU member, some public officers are not happy with the approach of the Grimes/Hazzard leadership on several issues and felt that they are now doing the same thing that they had criticised former President Rachael Roberts of doing in the past of making decisions without consulting other executive members.
“He (Thomas) was not even aware that this thing (Carriacou issue) happened, he thought they would have said something in their Council chat and come up with a talking point before they just go ahead and start to blast the government on something that they just start to get the facts about – so they were mad with him for that,” Thomas was quoted as saying.
“He (Thomas) said that he didn’t like their attitude at all, he just resigned. He told me that he tendered his resignation.”
A source close to the Grimes/Hazzard camp within PWU is disputing that this happened in the Carriacou situation.
He alleged that there was a Council meeting to look at the issue and Thomas was present but did not raise any concerns.
THE NEW TODAY cannot confirm reports that another member of PWU associated with its youth arm has also tendered her resignation from the union.