Accusing the PPP/C government of being “autocratic” by imposing a 7% pay hike for public servants, the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) on Friday urged President Irfaan Ali to direct the start of overdue negotiations between his administration and the union on increases of wages, salaries and allowances for 2020 and 2021.
The union made the call in a letter sent to the president following an emergency meeting on the government’s announcement of the increase on Thursday.
In its letter, GPSU said the unilateral imposition of a 7% increase is in conflict with the government’s obligations to act in accordance with the Constitution as well as the Trade Union Recognition Act of 1997. It also accused the government of ignoring the International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions and the legally binding agreement for the Avoidance and Settlement of Disputes, which was signed by the Union and Public Service Ministry.
“This unlawful action was taken during ongoing representation by the GPSU, which was vigorously pursuing the need for negotiations with the Ministry of Public Service and had legitimate expectations that that would take place. The copies of all correspondence were copied to you with the hope of presidential intervention, but sadly this has not been the case,” the letter stated.
“The 7% that was arbitrarily announced could be treated as an interim payment pending those negotiations, which should be taken in good faith,” the letter added.
GPSU President Patrick Yarde yesterday accused the government of deliberately sidelining the Union, adding that “they knew what they were going to do and they have no regards for the legally binding agreements.”
“It is most unfortunate the display of lawlessness that has occurred but it was deliberate. They have no respect for other organisations that they have obligations to discuss these things with and it is most unfortunate. They only have regards for the laws that applies to their status and their legitimacy and nothing else. This is a worrying situation because in this modern day this is the autocratic approach we are dealing with,” the GPSU leader said during a telephone interview with the Stabroek News on Friday.
On Thursday, Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance Dr Ashni Singh announced a unilateral across-the-board increase of 7% for all public servants teachers, members of the Disciplined Services, constitutional office holders, as well as government pensioners. The increase will be retroactive to January 2021.
The government made the announcement without engaging the GPSU and the Guyana Teachers’ Union. As a result, both unions have come out swinging against the move and called for the government to uphold collective bargaining.
The increase will be paid to eligible public servants with their December salaries but would not be tax-free.
“Work will start immediately to ensure that it is processed and paid to eligible employees together with their December salary and in time for the festive Christmas season,” Singh had said during the announcement.
GPSU, in a statement last evening, said that it convened an emergency meeting of its executive to discuss the salary imposition and decided to write Ali for intervention. In addition, it has also written to Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall for him to provide guidance to the government in accordance with the Constitution.
Following the announcement, the GPSU renewed its call for the government to come to the bargaining table and stop the imposition of salary increases. Past PPP/C governments had made unilateral increases in public servants’ salaries by around 5% annually without collective bargaining with the GPSU and other unions. Despite promises that it would restore collective bargaining, the APNU+AFC government of 2015 to 2020 also imposed unilateral increases.
Section 23(1) of the Trade Union Recognition Act of 1997 states “Where a trade union obtains a certificate of recognition for workers comprised in a bargaining unit in accordance with this Part, the employer shall recognize the union, and the union and the employer shall bargain in good faith and enter into negotiation with each other for the purpose of collective bargaining.”
Guyana is a signatory to the ILO conventions on settling labour disputes and the GPSU has frequently accused the government of flouting both the law and the ILO conventions. Since the PPP/C took office in August last year, the GPSU has been writing and calling on the government to commence negotiations regarding salaries and other benefits.
Time constraints
In the wake of scorching criticism from the GPSU, Minister of Public Service Sonia Parag says that the government was “pressed for time” before it announced its 7% increase on Thursday for public servants, resulting in the union not being consulted.
The Minister made the comment during a brief telephone interview with the Stabroek News yesterday.
“We did engage with the GPSU where they proposed certain increases and we told them that we would have to get back to them on and discuss further on but time did not permit me, because the exercises (GOAL Scholarships etc were) going on,” Parag said.
With the Bureau of Statistics recently relating that there has been a 14% increase in food prices for the first seven months of 2021 along with the general cost of living, for the same period, going up by 5.4%, the 7% increase in salary has been dubbed as “meagre” by critics.
However, the government has staunchly defended the increases, with several of its ministers making public statements and sharing a poster highlighting salary increases in a number of countries around the world. The highlighted countries, however, included developed and developing nations where workers are paid higher salaries than those in Guyana.
In July, the union wrote to the Ministry of Public Service threatening to take action and report it to the ILO for breaching their agreements. Additionallyit also criticised the government for not responding to a series of letters written to the Ministry between September, 2020 and April, 2021.
“…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 are 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…As the employer, the government 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 and a respecter of the ‘Laws of Guyana’. The flouting of the aforementioned agreement and the ignoring of the plight of Public Service workers and pensioners is evidence enough of the lack of care and/or consideration for persons who are giving and have given yeoman service to this nation,” the letter had said.
On Friday, Parag told Stabroek News that her Ministry did respond to some of the letters the GPSU sent.
“I did respond to them in several mails letting them know that we are going to meet…it was two times we responded,” the Minister said.
“I want to make it very clear that the collective bargaining agreement does not say that as soon as the GPSU requests you to meet, that you have to meet. It has to be at a time that both parties can conveniently be there,” she added.
However, Yarde told this newspaper that only once did the Ministry respond and that was earlier in 2021.
“We had one meeting with Minister Parag and in that meeting, she said that she has no mandate and we have been trying to get discussions with them going and there was a letter sent by the Permanent Secretary, who said that they will be in touch with us. That letter was since earlier in the year,” he said.
Yarde said that the GPSU has reached out to the Trade Union Recognition Board, which is headed by former PPP/C Minister of Labour, Nanda K Gopaul, for redress but got no relief.
“We brought to the attention, this conduct (of the government), to the Trade Union Recognition Board and we received a correspondence from them that we must complete the process (of collective bargaining). We replied to them that how must we complete the process that has not commenced and that is why we had brought it to their attention because the agreement does state of a process, of a bilateral conciliation and arbitration but there was no bilateral because they (the government) said they have no mandate and they were waiting on a mandate,” Yarde explained.
He further stated that they have not yet received a reply from the Board. Efforts by Stabroek News to contact Gopaul for comment were unsuccessful.
Less than 4%
The Guyana Teachers’ Union has said that teachers did not receive an increase in 2020 and Thursday’s announcement has essentially awarded teachers 3.5% for 2021. It noted that since COVID-19 came to Guyana, teachers have found innovative ways to serve the nation’s children with no support from the government in the areas of gadgets, internet, and electricity.
The Union added that teachers have “laboured like slaves” when they went into the communities to distribute and collect worksheets.
“This present multi-year agreement that remains enforced speaks to teachers receiving 8% in 2019 which was non-taxable. The senior Minister of Finance should be ashamed to announce this increase will be paid together with salaries in December 2021…a retroactive salary increase for 2021 will be added to December salary then taxed. It means that teachers will take home less than 4%,” the Union said.
It added that the announced salary increase will further increase every consumer item and cannot cushion the present rate of inflation in Guyana positing that teachers will find it challenging to feed themselves and family this season because of the high cost of living.
The teachers’ union is therefore demanding that the government award the 7% tax-free to teachers to cope with the increasing cost of living in Guyana; pay outstanding clothing allowances for 2021 to teachers in December, resolve the difference in salary for teachers who were employed during the period 2016 to 2020; add $200 million to the amount set aside for frontline workers so that teachers who have been in the forefront can be compensated like medical personnel; and engage the teachers’ union in the collective bargaining process to negotiate salary and non-salary matters.
“The GTU believes that our government can do better to make the lives of educators better by ensuring that they are adequately compensated for their efforts. Guyana has more than enough resources to distribute among our hard-working teachers. Our teachers in Region 2 indicated that they would not accept less than 15% for 2021,” the Union related.
During an appearance on Hits and Jams Radio, Education Minister Priya Manickchand said that the salary increase is coming on the heels of a number of relief measures introduced by the government. She listed the one-off COVID-19 cash grant of $25,000, one-off $25,000 payment to pensioners and Because We Care cash grants to school children.
“Governments are laying off people; we didn’t lay anybody off. We not only didn’t lay anybody off we paid everybody even and straight even when everybody were home for the entire period and now in this crisis, we are still trying to find a way to give an increase,” she said while defending the 7% increase imposed on public servants and teachers.
