Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and opposition member Lenox Shuman has joined the call for government to remove the taxes from the 7% increase given to public servants saying it the country could afford it and the monies would especially help to ease the burden on them this holiday season.
“Sir, succinctly, through your good office, I beseech you to make these increases tax free. One need not belabor a scholarly mind as yours on the importance of this initiative to families and I have every confidence that the strain on the public’s purse will be miniscule in comparison to the smiles, warmth and joy it will place in the hearts and homes across the country for the holiday season,” Schuman who represents the Liberty and Justice Party said in a letter to Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh.
The increase was announced on November 18th 2021 and Schuman’s letter is dated December 6th 2021.
It came weeks after scathing criticisms from the public, public servants, their unions and the Opposition APNU+AFC.
This newspaper yesterday tried reaching Minister rsponsibles for Finance Dr Ashni Singh to ascertain if he had received the correspondence and to get a reaction to the calls, but this proved futile.
Late last month, President Irfaan Ali drew rebuke after a bid to push back against criticism of the government imposed 7% pay hike. The workers’ unions have maintained that the administration broke the law by ignoring the agreed-upon collective bargaining process.
But when he addressed the nation, the President accused “so-called” trade union leaders of acting like political operatives in their reaction to the announcement of the increases. Trade unions and the main opposition are among the groups that have decried both the size of the increases in the face of the rising cost of living as well as the government’s unilateral imposition of them despite the calls for negotiations by the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU).
“I appeal to the unions to take off their political hats and put on the hat of reality, the hat of fairness, and, in a comprehensive way, they too should applaud the government,” Ali, however, said in his address, in which he emphasised that his government was not only focusing on salary increases but the welfare of the people.
Ali, who argued that public service workers were better off under the current administration, did not address criticism over the government’s failure to engage the union, which had been seeking to start negotiations since last year.
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 International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions on settling labour disputes and the GPSU has frequently accused the government of flouting both the law and the ILO conventions.
