Saying government has continued to ignore its obligations under the existing labour agreement, the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) has requested an urgent meeting for overdue negotiations on wages, salaries and allowances for the years 2020 and 2021.
The union on Saturday released a July 7, 2021 letter, which was written to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Service, to seek a meeting this week on the negotiations.
However, the union, which says workers are currently contending with an astronomical increase in the cost of living, also highlighted that its repeated attempts since last September to begin the talks have been ignored.
First Vice President Dawn Gardner, who signed the letter, told Sunday Stabroek that this is the first time that any administration has ignored the union. “I have no idea why we are not getting responses but it is a breach of the agreement,” she stressed.
Asked if the union is likely to approach a court over what is in essence a breach of contract, Gardner said no decision to that effect has been made.
Minister of Public Service Sonia Parag when contacted declined to comment.
In the letter to the Permanent Secretary, Gardner noted that the GPSU, in several letters during the period September 1, 2020 to April 27, 2021, requested urgent meetings to commence the outstanding negotiations. She noted that the request was made in keeping with Clause 6 of the “Agreement for the Avoidance and Settlement of Disputes” between the Government of Guyana and the GPSU.
“In this regard, those letters were neither acknowledged nor were efforts made to set a meeting date to commence negotiations, even though reminders were sent. The failure to take action to convene the requested meeting and the blatant disregard of both the requests and subsequent reminders constitute a breach of the legally binding agreement between the parties and is in conflict with Section 23 (1) of the Trade Union Recognition Act which requires the employer to bargain in good faith and enter into negotiations with each other for the purpose of collective bargaining,” she notes.
In making the case for urgent action, Gardner argued that there is an astronomical increase in the cost of living while noting that the last salary increase was granted in 2019, and allowances were reviewed more than two decades ago. “The purchasing power of workers has decreased significantly. Just a few days ago there was an increase of five dollars for every liter of gasoline which resulted in excess burden on the pockets of workers, tasked with executing Government’s policies and collecting its revenues,” she pointed out.
According to Gardner, government, as the employer, has shown disdain and disregard for both the workers in the Public Service and their representative, which has sullied its much lofted claim as being a caring working-class government that respects the ‘Laws of Guyana’.
She charged that the flouting of the labour agreement and the ignoring of the plight of public service workers is evidence enough of the lack of care and/or consideration for persons who are giving and have given yeoman service to this nation.
Gardner also recalled the recent shabby treatment of the healthcare sector workers, whom she noted have been besieged since 2020 by the need to protect the populace and themselves from the ravages of COVID-19. “This is especially sad since there was an agreement that risk allowances are deserving and should be paid to all healthcare workers during the deadly pandemic, but several months later there has been no payout nor any related announcement,” she said.
As a result, Gardner said the government’s posturing is unjustifiable, unwarranted, biased and discriminatory as she urged that it honour and respect its obligations.
A planned strike last October by healthcare workers was aborted at the last minute after the union and government agreed on negotiations. The workers had staged protests over their working conditions and remuneration while requesting that all workers in the sector be paid a risk allowance and be provided adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in wake of the pandemic.
