General Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) Lincoln Lewis has said that government’s imposition of a 5% across-the-board pay hike for public servants is unlawful as it is against the workers’ collective bargaining rights.
Lewis told Stabroek News in a brief interview yesterday that there is no issue with the 5% increase, only in the manner in which the government has done it.
“It is about how it was done… imposing on people, imposing on workers, a solution in breach of the Constitution. The question is not about number… it’s how everything is done, how a union operates and how that union negotiates on their behalf… We were not given that choice,” Lewis stated.
The government last week made the announcement of the increase, saying in a statement issued by the Government Information Agency (GINA) that a decision was taken to “avoid the disappointment of workers who have expectations of a salary increase payout, before Christmas.” At the same time, it reiterated government’s commitment to “ensuring that workers receive a living wage,” and added that it will “continue its participation in the ongoing negotiations between the workers’ representatives and the government with the intention of ultimately arriving at a multi-year wages and salary agreement.”
Lewis said the decision by government is in breach of International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions 87 and 98, which deal with the Freedom of Association and the Protection of the Rights to Organise as well as the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining, Labour Relations (Public Service), respectively.
Government has arbitrarily assigned pay increases for public servants for over a decade now.
Two weeks ago, President of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) Patrick Yarde told a news conference that after months of futile wage negotiations, the union was willing to accept a 9% interim payout from government, failing which the workers will resort to industrial action.
During efforts to contact Yarde yesterday, Stabroek News was told that he is not in the country.
Yarde had earlier told this newspaper of his dismay that government was not acting in good faith in the negotiations, in which the GPSU sought a pay increase of 25% and other conditions for public servants as well as firm commitments from government for serious discussions on the proposals made since 2009.
The workers eligible for the announced increase, which is retroactive to January 1, 2012, are those employed in ministries, departments not under ministerial control, regional administrations as well as those who are engaged on contracts against positions reflected on the inventory of the traditional public service and those who are contracted against positions that are not on the inventory.
