Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh has announced a 7% pay increase for public servants retroactive to January, 2021, as well as a planned special payout for front-line health workers.
In an announcement this afternoon broadcast on his ministry’s Facebook page, Singh also said that the government would be moving to reduce disparities in the wages and salaries of workers with comparable qualifications across the public service from next year.
Speaking on the increases, which were promised earlier in the year by President Irfaan Ali, Singh said public servants, teachers, members of the disciplined services, constitutional office holders and pensioners would benefit. The across-the-board increases, retroactive to January 2021, are to be paid with December salaries in time for Christmas, he noted.
Singh also said $400 million has been set aside for a special 2021 payout for front-line workers in the health sector, who continue to manage the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the details of the payout would be made shortly and that it would be made available to eligible workers before the end of the year.
Singh said the government has recognized a number of “anomalies and disparities” in the public servant salary scales, resulting in marked inconsistencies in payments to persons with similar qualifications, depending on the agency, their post and the salary scale in which the post is classified. As a result, he said the government would be taking steps to reduce inconsistencies to improve the parity and consistency with which persons with comparable qualifications are paid.
Today’s announcement of the increases was made notwithstanding the fact that government has not engaged the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), which has made calls for start of negotiations on wages and salaries.
Vice President of the GPSU, Dawn Gardner, previously told Stabroek News that she hopes that the increases being promised by the president will be negotiated with the union.
Gardner said she would personally condemn the increases if they are granted without a meeting being held with the union for negotiation.
“… It’s a breach and as the president he should not be breaching the laws… neither the legally binding agreement, which states that you must negotiate with the workers’ representative — which is the Guyana Public Service Union — for the increase in wages and salaries and other working conditions,” she explained.
She said the president’s announcement was blatant disrespect to public servants and hoped that the government would respect the rule of law, the legally binding agreement and have negotiations with the union. “Not the president just promising to have an increase in salary before the end of the year,” Gardner stated.
