Protesting Works Credit Union members call for transparency

Ten­sions flared out­side the Works Cred­it Union of­fice in Port-of-Spain yes­ter­day as scores of frus­trat­ed mem­bers stood in protest, de­mand­ing trans­paren­cy and an ur­gent Spe­cial Gen­er­al Meet­ing (SGM) to ad­dress what they de­scribe as “se­ri­ous gov­er­nance breach­es”.

Speak­ing on their be­half, for­mer pres­i­dent Au­gus­tus Thomas, a long-serv­ing mem­ber of the cred­it union since 1997, al­leged the cur­rent board may have over­stayed its term, ig­nored mem­ber pe­ti­tions, and spent funds with­out an ap­proved bud­get.

“Their term ex­pired since May, and up to now they are still run­ning the cred­it union with­out a bud­get,” Thomas told Guardian Me­dia dur­ing the protest. “We are in No­vem­ber, and they con­tin­ue to spend mem­bers’ mon­ey with­out ap­proval. That is un­con­sti­tu­tion­al and un­ac­cept­able.”