After expressing its concern multiple times over the year, the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) will today begin wage and salary negotiations with the David Granger administration and it will seek to bargain for a 40% increase in salaries.
GPSU President Patrick Yarde told reporters at a press briefing yesterday that the union has received an invitation from government to commence negotiations for wages and salaries for 2016. The invitation comes after the union had several times expressed worry about the Granger administration’s reluctance to engage on the matter.
The GPSU’s negotiating team will be led by Yarde and will include first vice-president Mortimer Livan, General Secretary Kempton Alexander and other members of the Executive. Leading government’s delegation will be Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of the Presidency Reginald Brotherson.
Despite the union’s hope for a big increase, the administration had previously signalled that this would not happen.
In March, Minister of Finance Winston Jordan had said that public service workers should not expect big salary increases. He had said that Guyana has been warned by the International Monetary Fund to monitor its spending and has been heeding the advice. Jordan had urged public servants to be understanding that government cannot at this time afford hefty increases.
Further, President Granger has said that pay should be linked to performance. “We have to go back to a standard where performance of individuals is related to promotion and pay. We have fallen into the trap of across-the-board benefits; people feel that simply by going to work they will benefit. They are like a rudderless ship floating on an ocean of goodwill. Many people who expect that there is going to be some bonanza, I hope they discover that the bonanza will come from their own efforts…if they want to be lazy, they will get a lazy person’s salary…if they work hard, they will be rewarded,” Granger had said.
Last year, the administration had raised the minimum salary in the public service to $50,000 per month while public servants who earned more received a 5 percent salary increase plus an additional $5000 monthly. A substantial salary increase for public servants had been one of the key promises of the APNU+AFC government.
Further, the administration had hiked the salaries of its ministers by as much as 50% and critics have said that this would likely trigger demands from other sectors for similar increases. The 50% pay hike came in for searing criticism for months.
Yesterday, Yarde disclosed that while the union has accepted the invitation for the wages talks, they are concerned that no mention was made by government about allowances. He said that they are seeking an immediate explanation for the apparent omission of allowances from the negotiations.
Further, Yarde said, the union is also awaiting clarification from government on the $6 billion allocated in the 2016 National Budget for ‘other employment costs.’
The GPSU chief related that the union is seeking the reintroduction of the increment system and they are also pursuing de-bunching regarding salary bands. “Within the public service for some time, increments were not being paid and therefore, for years, people were employed at the same salary,” he said.
“Salary bands had minimum and maximum and people were supposed to move within bands based on their performance. That was not done which was unfair. That was an issue since 1999,” Yarde declared. “Over the years what government did was invite us to talks and drag it out and then make an imposition. Never any genuine intention to complete a negotiation,” he added.
While noting that the meeting scheduled for today is at the invitation of government and they have indicated what they would like to discuss, Yarde said the union has since sought clarification since “we feel the discussions ought to be much wider and perhaps come to a speedy conclusion about this important aspect of remuneration.”
