Curtis Cuffie, chair of the public health section and general council member of the Public Services Association (PSA), is questioning why the outgoing president of the association waited this long to tender his resignation and accused him of violating the constitution of the trade union.

PSA president Watson Duke was sworn in as deputy chief secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) after his Progressive Democratic Patriots party defeated the PNM in the elections last Tuesday. Duke was re-elected to represent Roxborough/Argyle.

Speaking with Newsday on Tuesday, Cuffie, who ran against Duke in the PSA's internal elections last December, said the resignation was not in accordance with the union's regulations, which stipulated that the president was not allowed to have a full-time job outside his role as PSA leader.

He added that Duke should have sent in his resignation hours after he was appointed deputy chief secretary, and said Duke continued to involve himself in PSA activities even after announcing his resignation.

Referring to a December 13 letter in which Duke announced he would step down on December 31, Cuffie questioned how the process would work, given that he would technically still be a part of the association.

"You can't say you're resigning and then want to hold a conference and then accept your own letter of resignation. You cannot do that. The entire process outlined in that letter by Watson Duke is unlawful and I am waiting to see exactly where it goes from here. He has no authority to do that.

"The highest body in the PSA is the conference of delegates, the general council, the executive and then the president."

He said as far as he was concerned, once Duke became deputy chief secretary of the THA, "He was out the door of the PSA and he has no authority at all to do anything in the PSA after that."

Cuffie said Duke should have resigned as PSA head either before or immediately after his appointment, to create a vacancy in the organisation which would have been addressed by the general council.

Contacted for comment, first vice president of the PSA Felisha Thomas declined to respond to Cuffie's criticism and said the executive of the association would make a statement after it met.

"In relation to the president's offer of resignation, that's something we will be able to make a statement on when the conference meets and we make a decision on the matter. So I wouldn't want to give any formal statement until that meeting has taken place."

When contacted on whether Duke also sent a resignation letter to the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA), from which he has been on secondment to the PSA, WASA officials declined to comment.

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