The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) came to an agreement on Tuesday for the workers to take home a 5% increase, a day after they protested the initial proposal of 2%.
According to President of NAACIE, Kenneth Joseph, the union accepted the power company’s proposal and the two sides have also agreed on some other fringe benefits. “…There is an agreement and we have accepted the 5% across the board offer,” Joseph told Stabroek News on Tuesday, while stating that in addition to the retroactive increase that starts on January 1, 2016, they were also able to negotiate an automatic 3% on an incremental scale.
“We have reintroduced the scale that we had in 2001. Every worker who falls within that scale, from the bottom to the top, will receive an automatic 3% that coincides with the workers’ years of service plus the 5% across the board,” he added.
They also came to an agreement for the reintroduction of 0 – 10% performance incentives, based on the amount of work produced by the workers on a yearly basis.
However, he explained that while they were able to come to an agreement with a few terms and proposals, there are still parts of the “entire package” that need to be negotiated. “We want to have it completed and we have agreed we will start the new talks in February of next year,” he said, while pointing out that incentives such as meal and risk allowances and others will be part of that discussion.
Joseph also said that the union had advised the workers to go back to work and as far as he knew they would have resumed their positions. Additionally, he pointed out that approximately 800 workers will benefit from the proposals that were agreed on.
“We met this morning with the company’s CEO Mr Renford Homer and the Deputy Mr [Elwyn] Marshall and we are okay now. We can move into 2017,” he added.
While Stabroek News was unable to contact Homer yesterday, a spokesperson from the power company confirmed that the agreement was made.
On Monday, at least 30 GPL workers from the transmission and distribution department, gathered outside of the company’s Main Street, branch and voiced their concerns. The workers had explained to Stabroek News that while the union and the company had been negotiating since the starting of the year, GPL held steadfast to its 2% proposal, even after NAACIE had indicated a willingness to step back from its initial proposal of 15% to 8%.
The workers claimed that the proposal was “unfair” to them and they were not going to stand for it. They explained that they were the “backbone” of the company and should be given what was due to them.
“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,” a worker, Monty Holder had argued.
Another worker, Seon Morgan, had explained that they are usually forced to endure the rain and sun for long hours to upkeep the network and yet the company did not want to pay them properly. “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 had said.
Other workers expressed their dissatisfaction at the company’s proposal.
