The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) says it expects that the salaries and wages of the Public Sector will feature prominently on the agenda of the Ministry of Finance in the 2012 Budget.
Consequently, the union said, as the premier representative of public servants it then “would be in a position to adequately advise its members positively on the way forward.”
The GPSU in a press release on Monday also presented eight proposals for consideration in the 2012 Budget.
The union also reiterated its call for an all-embracing, long-term wage agreement that would obviate the need for yearly negotiations, while ensuring a predictable, transparent formula for increasing salaries and wages.
The union said that in presenting the proposals, it is once again “enjoining the government to have meaningful engagements with the union.”
The GPSU is proposing that the 2012 Budget should consider tax relief and tax reform, with an immediate reduction in personal income tax to 25%; and an increase in the personal income tax threshold to $600,000.
The union asserted that tax reform in Guyana is both needed and necessary and the government should review the level of taxation on income and consumer items.
And while awaiting the findings of the three-person committee established by President Donald Ramotar on this matter, the union is calling for the setting up of a “truly National Commission on Taxation” that would draw on the expertise of major stakeholders and interest groups to inquire into all aspects of taxation in the country.
Under the category of wages and salaries and benefits, the GPSU is proposing a 25% salary increase for 2012 and the payment of increments in the Public Service. The union is contending too that this would facilitate the upward movement in pay bands and eliminate bunching of all employees at the minimum of the salary scales.
The union is calling also for a non-contributory Health Insurance Scheme for public servants and their families; and substantial increases in advances to public officers who are entitled to loans to purchase motor vehicles in discharging their duties.
In addition GPSU is proposing substantial increases in such allowances as Travelling Allowance (last increased in 1995); Subsistence Allowance (last increased in 1995); Uniform Allowance (last increased in 2001); Meal Allowance (last increased in 1996); Housing Allowance (last increased in 2009); and other allowances as a condition of service.
The GPSU is also recommending that resources be made available to continue and complete the Public Sector Modernisation Project, with specific focus on human resource development; technological enhancement; implementing and maintaining established standards of Occupational, Safety and Health; general improvement of the work environment; and filling of vacancies on the establishment and ending of contract employment.
Pensions
In looking at the matter of pensions, the union is recommending that provisions be included in the 2012 Budget for a minimum increase of 50% in all pensions payable by the State and that NIS be encouraged to do likewise.
According to the GPSU, “this would go some way towards addressing the rather shameful situation that currently exists where, after working so many years in persistent poverty, senior citizens and retirees find themselves condemned to abject poverty while in retirement.”
The union also paid attention to housing, proposing that an allocation be made in the budget that would cater for infrastructure for housing projects for low and middle income public servants with specific emphasis on hinterland regional areas.
Under health, the union is urging that substantial funds be allocated for the New Amsterdam Psychiatric Hospital, in particular, and health institutions throughout Guyana, generally, “so as to enhance the delivery of primary health care in all administrative regions.”
Meanwhile, the union is recommending also “the reinstatement of the subvention to Critchlow Labour College” and the allocation of substantial funds to enable the CLC “to liquidate all existing liabilities and meet current expenditure.”
The GPSU also focused on the issue of public administration, calling for the “implementation of a vigorous campaign to root out the cancer of corruption, in whatever form or shape.”
According to the release, the union is prepared to work with the government to execute any exercise that is even handed and fair since it holds the view that “large amounts of revenue could be saved and made available to finance worthy programmes.”
The union also expressed condemnation of what it termed the “disdainful manner” with which public servants continue to be treated in successive national budgets.
Marginal
According to the union, public servants “are made to suffer for most of the year before receiving an imposed, marginal increase in December. As if that were not bad enough, the pitiable increase is then subjected to income tax, even though workers would have effectively subsidized the government during the previous 11 months.”
Referring to the 2011 Budget, the GPSU contended “that in a budget of $161.4 billion, the government only allocated to workers a mere $5,000 per month increase in the tax threshold, which translated to an increase in purchasing power of $1,667 monthly or $56 daily, less than the price of a quarter of a loaf of bread.”
The union further argued that the take home income would have been lessened by inflation, hikes in NIS, and the VAT. “As we predicted, many workers did not benefit from that so called ‘generosity’ since the majority of public servants, who are numbered among the employed poor, earned less than $35,000 per month.”
The release further stated that “in doling out its ‘favours’, the government did not see it fit to simultaneously reduce the burdensome rate of individual income tax, which remains at a staggering 33%, considerably higher than Trinidad and Tobago, among other similarly-positioned CARICOM countries, where incomes are higher.”
The GPSU is also contending that not only have the increases meted out to public servants been deemed inadequate to meet a living wage in the context of Guyana, but also the “across the board” methodology used for payment has had human resources consequences, such as bunching, overlapping pay scales, deterioration in the relativities between scales, and exaggeration of the gap between the incomes of Scale 1 (unskilled worker) and Scale 14 (Permanent Secretary).
Moreover, the union maintained that the non-payment of increments has also exacerbated an already depressed situation, as new entrants receive the same salary as their more experienced counterparts.
However, while the union recognized that other non-monetary incentives are important, it pointed out that “monetary incentives remain the most important factor that sets the basis for employee motivation, enhancement of employee efficiency and effectiveness and, ultimately, the achievement of organizational goals.”
The release added that it is clear that the outcome of the General and Regional Elections in November 2011 was “a partial reflection of workers’ displeasure, and a reaction and rejection of the uncaring and unreasonable manner with which they were treated.”
