GPSU promises increased pressure to address issues

Public servants’ wages and salaries

…says consultations ongoing in relation to industrial action

The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) has vowed to step up its efforts and to increase the pressure on the Government to address the issues plaguing public servants in light of the Government’s unilateral wage and salary increases. This was related at a news conference on Friday at the Union’s Headquarters in Georgetown.

Earlier this month, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon announced that Government had made its final offer of an eight per cent increase for public service employees earning between $55,000 and $99,999. Public service employees earning between $100,000 and $299,999 are being offered an increase of six per cent while workers earning between $300,000 and $500,000 have been offered a five per cent increase. Those earning between $500,000 and $699,999 have been offered a four per cent increase while those earning $700,000 to $799,999 are being offered a two per cent increase. Employees earning between $800,000 and $1 million have been proposed a 0.5 per cent increase while those earning above $1 million have been ‘red circled and will benefit from no increases’.
Meanwhile, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of the Presidency, Reginald Brotherson had indicated that the increases were expected to pile on an additional $3.6 billion to the national wages bill and that the offer was made to the Union, which was yet to counter it.
However, the Union said that the negotiations from 2016 were yet to be addressed conclusively and before any other negotiations proceed, those issues should be addressed.
GPSU President Patrick Yarde told a news conference that the Union continued to be challenged with balancing the scales between ensuring that the critical functions of the public service continue to be carried out efficiently and effectively, and entertaining the option of labour withdrawal.
However, he noted that this move would only become possible after widespread consultation, which is already in progress.
“Accordingly, the GPSU wishes to place the Government of Guyana on notice that even now strategies are being seriously contemplated that seek to bring greater pressure to bear in order to ensure that Government demonstrates a far greater mindfulness of the rights and entitlements of public servants. These strategies will unfold in the period ahead unless the Government’s posture changes with alacrity,” Yarde said.
He further said the Union was of the view that the Government was now guilty of taking advantage of the responsible posture towards the development of the country which the Union and its members have historically taken loyally and very seriously, and they are feeling betrayed.

The negotiations
Yarde accused Finance Minister Winston Jordan of having the same approach to public servants’ wages and salaries as when he was Budget Director during former President Bharrat Jagdeo’s tenure as Finance Minister. He said that in 2015, Jordan and the GPSU agreed that all allowances accruing to public servants would be addressed expeditiously, but that commitment was yet to be honoured by the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Administration.
“After more than two decades, issues such as scare increments and de-bunching remain unaddressed…what passes for negotiations in 2017 is characterised by the same unyielding and unprincipled official posture. We are faced with the same bad faith official stance in engaging the Union on the various critical and long outstanding remuneration-related concerns of public servants,” he said.
The veteran trade unionist said that rather than addressing the issues plaguing the public servants, the APNU/AFC Administration is bent on imposing a ‘take it or leave it’ system.
“The fact is that we are faced with a conspiracy to deny the public servants the merited and overdue benefits that are rightly theirs. We are convinced that shortly they would proceed to impose an increase on public servants,” Yarde said.
The GPSU indicated that it would continue to monitor the situation and proceed with the consultations to determine its next step.