The Guyana Power and Light Company (GPL) yesterday said it was prepared to improve its pay hike offer after scores of workers from the Guyana Power and Light Company’s (GPL) Transmission and Distribution (T&D) Department down-ed tools and gathered outside the power company’s Main Street office yesterday to protest what they said was an unfair pay increase proposal.
More than 30 workers who are represented by the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial & Industrial Employees (NAACIE) gathered and voiced their discontent with the management of the company.
As a result talks are set to resume today with a new proposal from GPL on the table.
According to Monty Holder, the workers were protesting because NAACIE had started negotiations with Guyana Power and Light (GPL) since January for pay increases and fringe benefits. However, nothing substantial had come out of the talks until late November and early December. Holder said this was an ongoing trend of the company to prolong the talks and wait until the end of the year to give a proposal.
“They usually wait until year end to start negotiations. However, the workers of GPL are saying that we don’t want that no more. We want to be paid properly or better wages increase [than] what management is giving us,” Holder argued. According to him, while the union had made a proposal for an increase of 15%, the company offered 2%.
“After five meetings the union moved from 15% to 11% to 8% and not once has management moved from the 2% and we are saying that is unfair,” Holder said, while pointing out that the workers are the backbone of the company and are always carrying the load. He said they deserve to be paid proper wages and will continue to protest until a proper agreement is reached.
“Give Caesar what is due to Caesar and we know that management can afford it,” he said, to the agreement of the other workers.
Another worker, Seon Morgan, explained that they are usually forced to endure the rain and sun for long hours to upkeep the network and yet the company does not want to pay them correctly. “If we are moving forward we can’t take two steps backward. Management says we have to keep the company afloat but at whose expense, the workers who have to keep this company on their backs? I’m not asking for the world, I’m just asking for what is due to me,” Morgan said.
Other workers expressed their dissatisfaction at company’s proposal.
When asked whether the T&D Department not working would affect the frequency of blackouts, one of the workers said he was not at liberty to answer since most of the times it was beyond their control.
Because of the strike, Acting CEO Renford Homer said, contact has been made with the contract workers in case of an emergency. He informed also that GPL has proposed an “improved” offer to the union. He said the discussions on the new proposal were set for today. “We had the management and board level ventilate this matter and we are… to have these further discussions…” in the hope of bringing the industrial dispute to a close, he said, pointing out that they had communicated to the workers what was going to happen.
They also asked them to return to duty and he said when he last checked they were not protesting anymore.
In case that they did not work, he said, the contractors were on standby, in the event there was an emergency.
