Following a meeting between the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) it was decided that workers will be given a five per cent across the board increase and other benefits.
The meeting between the Power Company and the Workers Union came a day after employees attached to the Transmission and Distribution (T&D) unit downed tools, protesting a decision by the company to offer them a mere two per cent increase, blanking the eight per cent proposed by the representative body.
Workers protesting on Monday
Hours after the meeting, union President Kenneth Joseph said the five per cent increase is expected to be paid before year-end. Added to that, the power company also agreed to reintroduce the zero to 10 per cent performance assessment increment one-off payment.
On Monday, workers of the T&D unit stood in protest outside GPL’s Main Street Head Office, protesting a two per cent salary increase offered by the company. Workers said they were not accepting that, stating that they were standing by their eight per cent proposal.
The almost 40 employees gathered in front of the company’s main branch in Georgetown, and though they carried no placards, they made the point that the two per cent increase being proposed by the power company 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, Gregory Gibson 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 the Guyana Times “Every year is the same thing, every year is one thing with them,” another worker lamented.
Joseph, who was also 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.
He pointed to the fact that the Union would not be doing its work effectively and 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 President told this newspaper.
He said the union has given the company every chance possible 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 eleven and a 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,” he said GPL’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Wrenford Homer told the media at a news conference on Monday that the power company was hoping for an amicable conclusion on Tuesday when the two meet.
