The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) has once again found itself in some hot water as workers of its Transmission and Distribution (T&D) Department on Monday downed tools in protest of being refused an eight per cent salary increase.
The action by the employees, said to be critical to the operations of the power company, was to have occurred at GPL branches across the country.
Workers of the power company stand in protest for higher salaries
The almost 40 employees gathered in front of the company’s Georgetown office, and though they carried no placards, they made the point that the two per cent increase being proposed by GPL will in no way work for them, especially at this time of the year.
“We come out here because we are saying no to that two per cent,” one protestor said. “The union and management meet, and they ain’t come to no sort of agreement. They offer us two per cent and that can’t work, especially around this time,” he told Guyana Times.
“Every year is the same thing, every year is one thing with them,” another worker lamented.
President of the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) Kenneth Joseph, present during the protest, explained that the power company and the union have found themselves in a deadlock as the negotiations have not yet been completed.
“Since we have sent our proposals in April, we have not been able to complete negotiations with GPL. Last year we had three meetings. We are still at nothing.” According to Joseph, the company is now casting blame at the feet of the union, saying that the union “is the reason for the non-agreement.”
He pointed out that the union would not be doing its work effectively by representing the interest of workers, if it were to accept the proposals of the company.
“These include the across-the-board payment, the changes in working hours that were signed long ago. We don’t agree with the proposals they have made. They are just pulling this thing on…They are not ready yet to call us to discuss some new thing. I think it was disgusting throughout,” the union head told this newspaper.
He said the union has given the company every chance to come up with a situation that would not involve a protest or strike action. “We told them that the people will someday get fed up and that is what has happened today. The union is in full support of this protest. I’m sorry that we have to be on the road. It took them 11 and half months for them to be on the road. But you can imagine, they are frustrated, the union is frustrated. I was told that there are people on the road in Onverwagt and New Amsterdam. We were hoping that it did not get this far. I already told the Ministry of Labour that my members are on the road.”
During the last meeting the two units had last Tuesday, Joseph said the company presented two per cent across-the-board, three per cent end scale movement and 0-10 per cent for performance.
“We have two parts that we can take, but the across-the-board 2 per cent we cannot; we cannot agree with that”, Joseph maintained. (Alexis Rodney)
