The Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) on Tuesday announced an 8.5% increase in wages and salaries for its workers retroactive from January 2019.
GPL Divisional Director-Human Resources Bal Persaud and Chief Labour Officer-Department of Labour Charles Ogle (GPL photo)
A Memorandum of Agreement for revised wages and salaries for junior and senior employees of GPL was signed between GPL and National Association of Agricultural, Commercial & Industrial Employees (NAACIE) at NAACIE’s Head Office in Kingston, Georgetown.
In a statement, the company said the percentage was agreed to following negotiations with NAACIE, which commenced in early December.
The signing, GPL said, was witnessed by the Chief Labour Officer, Charles Ogle; Department of Labour; Ministry of Social Protection and other GPL-NAACIE representatives; Dawchan Nagasar, the General Secretary of NAACIE.
Nagasar expressed his appreciation for the manner in which negotiations were conducted in 2019. He further commended the Union’s commitment to advancing improved relations with GPL.
GPL Divisional Director-Human Resources Bal Persaud noted that GPL remains committed to maintaining cordial negotiations with NAACIE to further improve working conditions and benefits for employees through collective bargaining.
In the last year, there has been a significant increase in power failure and load shedding as a result of the shutdown of interconnecting systems and maintenance.
In fact, although the Government had promised that blackouts would be a thing of the past, from all indications, it was clear that Guyanese will have to wait much longer to see this promise becoming reality.
Over the past few months, the complaints coming from various sections of the population, including private citizens and business about constant power outages, have increased dramatically.
