In the face of a request by the workers’ union that Guyana Power and Light (GPL) match the 7% increase being paid to public servants, the utility company’s Chief Executive Officer Bharrat Dindyal yesterday said it simply could not afford it.
“We don’t have money to pay an increase,” Dindyal told a press conference, where he disclosed that the company was operating at a deficit. “We can’t afford anything at all,” he added, when asked what could be given.
The announcement came as a shock to the National Association of Clerical, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NACCIE), which yesterday stated that its workers should not be punished for electricity theft losses — the main contributor to GPL operating at a deficit.
According to NAACIE, employees are facing the same financial constraints as public servants and had expected that its employer would have given them a bonus and matched government’s 7% increase, which is retroactive to January.
“It is very disappointing to hear that a company which has been in existence in more than 30 years is still having difficulty with electricity theft, so much so it has to affect the bottom line of the company and the company’s ability to pay its workers, which it boasts as valuable, a deserving wage or salary,” NACCIE Executive Darnell McFarlane told Stabroek News.
“The leadership of the union needs to step up and deal with management in a more direct and robust manner so that they can get the results the employees require,” he added.
McFarlane said that he is, however, optimistic that current discussions with government will “bear fruit” and hoped that an amicable decision can be reached soon.
Another NACCIE executive, who requested anonymity, echoed McFarlane but laid the blame for losses squarely on the management of GPL for not tackling the problem forcefully enough. The official said that the GPL CEO should also wait until discussions among the three sides and the Chief Labour Officer were completed before announcing dismal news, which might agitate the already disheartened workers.
“Why should the workers suffer for the incompetence of management? It is a decades-old problem—GPL in combatting electricity theft. GPL is a profit making organization. I think the announcement that nothing can’t be given is a bit premature because something is being worked out,” the official said.
“I do not think the CEO is aware that government seems willing to extend its 7% to GPL and is empathetic to the employees. GPL is not considered traditional public sector because it has a separate union. But the union has already engaged the government and has stated that it will accept 7%. For that to go through, the other arm is that GPL has to be willing to accept this money and they don’t seem to be pressing for that, although it is not their money,” the official added.
One NACCIE representative said that GPL has been offering less than expected and is “failing to come to table to honour its fiduciary requirements and to meet with the workers’ representatives because they believe the union is a walk over.”
“I think they take the union for granted and they think this union is weak and… [they] can try to push around the people and it is very, very sad. We want to get GPL to come to the table. They started in August. We are trying to get them to return. We had an agreement already and we can settle this in a democratic way,” the official said.
In May of this year GPL and NAACIE signed an agreement for a 5% increase in wages and salaries for the year 2020.
The agreement was said to have benefitted approximately 1,120 non-management staff of GPL, a release from the company said.
