GPSU threatens industrial action if Govt refuses to meet at bargaining table

The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) issued an ultimatum to the Government on Thursday to meet at the bargaining table or it will be forced to take industrial action.
In an issued missive, the GPSU stated, “The Executive Council of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) unanimously decided at its Statutory Executive Council Meeting held on February 21, 2024, that an ultimatum be issued to the Government to meet at the bargaining table, the failure of which will result in industrial action to immediately end the Government’s breach of the several guiding instruments.”
These guidelines include an agreement for the avoidance and settlement of disputes between the Government of Guyana and the Guyana Public Service Union (1987); Article 147 (3) of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana; and Section 23 (1) of the Trade Union Recognition Act, Cap. 97:07.
Further, the GPSU stated that it places reliance on the Conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) ratified by the Parliament of Guyana, including Convention No 87 concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, Convention No 98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining, and Convention No 151 on Labour Relations (Public Service) which espouses minimum standards of the conduct for collective bargaining and the protection of the rights of workers to be unionised and be to represented by their duly certified and recognised Union with respect to any decision on the part of their employer that affects their salaries, wages, benefits, and other conditions of service.
“This decision is also guided by the protections offered to workers in Guyana pursuant to the ILO’s ‘Declaration of the Fundamental Rights and Principles at Work’ of 1998 (as amended in 2022), which is of weight and in force under the Laws of Guyana as an unincorporated ratified treaty.”
In addition, the GPSU stated that issues affecting workers in the public service and the Government’s reluctance to meet at the bargaining table or to conciliate to break the deadlock that has arisen were discussed extensively at the union’s meeting on February 21, 2024, with its members.
The union will continue to engage its members on this matter over the coming days through a committee that was established to ensure that the GPSU is mobilised and all grievance procedures under the existing agreement are followed as it issues, and thereafter executes the ultimatum, which will now be directed to the Government.