Every category of workers will be addressed – Ali on salaries

Having already announced major adjustments to salaries for members of the Joint Services and for healthcare workers, President Dr Irfaan Ali has assured that salary adjustments for every category of workers would be addressed.
“Every sector of employees, their time will come…every category of workers will be addressed, and we are starting from critical areas where there were great anomalies, and that is how we’ve started, and we’re progressing well,” the Head of State told reporters during an interview on the sidelines of an event on Wednesday.

Asked specifically about teachers, President Ali indicated that they also stand to benefit. “I value the work of teachers tremendously. Teachers are an important asset to our country. My own parents were teachers, so no one has to tell me the value of teachers.”
Asked about a timeframe within which teachers can see salary adjustments, President Ali said, “I don’t want to give you a timeframe; but, as you can see, things are happening very quickly in this country.”
He pointed out, however, that his Government’s intention is to improve the overall welfare of citizens, not just focus on salaries. “We’re working on a progressive plan to improve the overall welfare of every citizen… welfare is not only a matter of salary; whilst we understand the importance of salaries, it’s quality of life, quality of your healthcare, quality of infrastructure, the cost of your electricity, the cost of your water, the quality of your water…” he explained.
On Monday evening, President Ali announced $1.5B in salary increases for over 5,000 healthcare workers. Those increases range from 36.4 per cent to as much as 74.7 per cent.
According to the President, his Government has kept its commitments, whether it was to the sugar workers or to the healthcare workers. He further assured that the salaries and benefits for health workers would continue to be improved. At the same time, he urged healthcare workers to deliver services at the utmost levels.
These increases come just a few weeks after President Ali had announced an eight per cent salary increase for all Public Servants, retroactive to January 1, 2022. At the time, he had said further announcements would be made regarding specific categories of Public Sector employees, particularly for the Disciplined Services.
The President subsequently announced that 8,000 members of the Guyana Police Force, Guyana Fire Service and the Guyana Defence Force would get salary increases that would amount to over $1 billion.
Since coming to office in 2020, the PPP/C Government has made concerted efforts to improve the lives of Public Servants and Guyanese as a whole. Among these measures were the payment of a seven per cent across-the-board increase to Public Servants in 2021; the restoration of the one-month tax-free year-end bonus to the Disciplined Services, totalling more than $1 billion per annum; an increase of about 40 per cent in the monthly old-age pension from $20,500 to $28,000, providing a total pension payout of more than $21 billion to senior citizens; and an increase of 55 per cent in public assistance payments from $9000 to $14,000 monthly, providing a total of more than $3 billion in annual income support to the beneficiaries.