Former UGT president blasts union’s current leadership.

Former General Workers Union President Gerson Guzmán López (Facebook via Puerto Rico Online News)

Some 300 labor cases before appeals panel are closed due to lack of action

By THE STAR STAFF

Former General Workers Union (UGT by its initials in Spanish) President Gerson Guzmán López earlier this week accused the union’s current leadership of “irresponsibility and incompetence” after it was confirmed that more than 300 labor cases filed on behalf of union members were closed for lack of action.

The cases -- more than 180 from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and more than 130 from the Department of Labor -- were dismissed by the Appeals Commission after repeated requests for information went unanswered by the administration led by current UGT President Edwin Méndez.

Guzmán said the Appeals Commission had been requesting documents and follow-up from the union for more than a year, warning that the cases would be archived if the UGT failed to respond. Despite those notices, he said, Méndez’s team neither submitted the required information nor informed the affected workers that their claims were at risk. As a result, union members lost their cases without ever having the opportunity to intervene on their own behalf.

The complaints involved issues such as outdated job classifications -- where employees’ duties had evolved but their classifications had not -- and errors in salary scale adjustments that placed workers in lower pay grades than warranted. Many of the cases were filed in mid‑2023, and Guzmán stressed that the union had a legal obligation to track and respond to each one.

“This wasn’t an administrative error; it was a complete abandonment of the workers,” Guzmán said Sunday. “The union submitted the complaints but never followed up as required, and when the labor court warned them that the cases would be closed, Edwin Méndez’s administration did absolutely nothing. More than 310 families lost their rights, and the worst part is that the current incompetent administration has covered it up and remained silent.”

Guzmán called on the current leadership to explain publicly why the cases were not processed and why workers were never notified. He warned that although the complaints may be refiled, the adjudication process could take one to two years, further delaying justice for employees who have already been waiting more than two years without assistance.