Georgetown: The Guyana Public Service Co-operative Credit Union would be celebrating 50 years since its eventful founding with a church service on Sunday at 09:00h at St Andrews Kirk, Brickdam, Georgetown.
The credit union was birthed following the trade union strike in 1963 which lasted for 90 days. The effects of the countrywide strike were severe on the workers and their families. Many incurred debts at the commercial banks, insurance companies, from friends and families. Money lenders made a fortune from this situation because they were lending at high interest rates.
The dilemma that most working families found themselves in was alarming and a decision was made by the senior members of the Civil Service Association to band together for the benefit of their families. The idea was to improve the present financial situation and to avoid a recurrence of the effects should another strike take place. Hence, the decision was made to form a credit union, whereby its members can have access to funding when the need arises.
After several meetings by the group, 29 persons signed an application for the registration of the then Guyana Civil Service Co-operative Credit Union Limited.
The inaugural meeting of the credit union was held at the association’s registered office, Regent and New Garden streets, Georgetown on April 2, 1964.
On March 3, an opening ceremony will be held at the National Cultural Centre, starting at 17:00h, followed by a reception in the foyer of the National Cultural Centre.
A domino competition commenced on February 25 with several teams competing for trophies and monetary rewards.
On March 6 and 13, two young workers’ workshops would be held in New Amsterdam and Linden respectively. The focus of these two activities is to examine the role of youths in succession planning and the development of the credit union, finding ways and means of diversifying its products and services to remain viable in a competitive market.
