Minister of Finance Winston Jordan yesterday defended the government’s “final offer” on wage hikes for public servants, while saying that a larger increase would be unsustainable. “Every increase we make must be sustained for the next year and the next year… sustained payments that have implications for allowances and pensions have to come from growth in revenues that can be sustained,” Jordan said.
Government has been locked in negotiations with the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) for two months beginning on June 22nd, 2016. On August 24th, the government’s negotiating team announced that its final offer to the union was differentiated wage increases for public servants ranging from 10% at the lowest scale to 1% at the highest.