– were shortchanged last year, Yarde says
President of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) Patrick Yarde said government has made no clear statement on the fate of public servants this year though provisions are set out in the 2009 budget and according to him the administration was not entirely honest during its handling of the payouts last year because “there were allocated funds left over”.
He said the 2009 budgetary allocation for public servants should be viewed in the context of what happened last year, adding that from all indications the union and the public were misled.
Yarde told reporters yesterday that a substantial amount of funds were returned to the treasury as they were not utilized from the budgetary allocation for public servants in 2008. He gave the figure at around $247 million, which was returned to the treasury from the $17,285,219,000 that was budgeted.
According to him, government spent $17,037,914,000 in total wages and salaries for public servants last year; this included the initial 5% increase that was paid out to workers earning under $50,000, the $4,000 non-taxable temporary relief payment and the subsequent 5% hike for workers earning above $50,000.
The reality, he said, is that parliament approved what amounted to a 13.66 percent across-the-board increase in wages and salaries of public servants, but that government saw it fit to ignore and impose its will on the workers. Yarde added the government could have easily used the money that was returned to make a one-off Christmas bonus to public servants “even as they were awarding members of the disciplined forces their usual bonus”. He declared that the administration is bent on dividing workers.
Further, he said his union’s proposals that were submitted to Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh were ignored. He said that the budgeted increase in the provision for wages and salaries for public servants this year ought to be explained by the administration.
The GPSU president pointed to another part of the allocation made for the public service in the budget which he described as “a dangerous development”. He referred to the allocation for contract workers in public service, which has increased by $787m from last year, as being of serious concern to the union since it “flies in the face of government’s intention to modernize the public service”.
Yarde said government gave a commitment to upgrade the public service to a professional, career-oriented one that is evenhanded, but instead the administration has been systematically bringing in persons to bypass the regular public servants.
He said that contract work is now the second highest allocation for employment within the public service. He added that there is now a massive increase in the numbers in the parallel public service and called it “a dangerous development”. Yarde added that this significant increase compromises confidence and morale within the public service.
GPSU in a statement issued yesterday said that the 2009 budget failed to take into consideration the plight of public servants, noting that many are still struggling to make ends meet. Yarde said that some workers are barely making enough to survive.
The union said it was hoping to see within the budget provisions that would benefit public servants, and pointed to the income tax threshold saying that it should have been increased to $100,000. Additionally, the union said that the Value Added Tax (VAT) should have been reduced to 10 per cent.
Further, the union said allocations should be made for the payment of increment in the public service facilitating upward movement in pay bonds and thus eliminating bunching of all employees at the minimum of the scale.
GSPU also called for various allowances to enhance the educational and personal development of public servants, noting that funds should be made available to adequately increase allowances paid to public officers.
The union also called for the subvention to be paid to the Critchlow Labour College so that the college can liquidate all existing liabilities and to adequately meet all expenses for the effective administration and functioning in 2009.
The government had announced late last year that from January 2009 the temporary $4,000 relief paid to public servants earning below $50,000 per month as of May 2008 will be incorporated into their basic salaries and another 5% has been approved for those earning over $50,000 effective May 1, 2008.
