All employees of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) who are members of the Guyana Postal and Telecommunication Workers Union (GPTWU) will see a hike of 6 per cent in their wages and salaries effective from January 2023 unto 2025, along with further training for technicians in the company.
The announcement was made following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the union and the utility company on Wednesday at the Ministry of Labour boardroom on Brickdam, Georgetown. A release from GTT stated that all union members are set to receive the 6 per cent increase, which is also subject to an additional review, depending on the levels of inflation in the month of January of next year.
It was also noted that those members had received a 6 per cent increase in October, 2021, along with an immediate 2 per cent pay hike in February of this year. According to GTT Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Damian Blackburn, the technicians will benefit from that increase along with training.
“One of the biggest things in this agreement as well, is our commitment to resolve historic issues and to really focus on moving forward… our company is committed to a transformational training programme for our technicians to make sure that they are fully trained in various skills in the 21st century.”
On the other hand, GPTWU President Harold Shepherd explained that along with the training, the technicians will receive one increment in their salary scale, effective from July of this year, along with movements in the upper scale such as being promoted from Tech 1 to Tech 2, and other forms of upward positions.
“…the technicians that usually go to your homes and sort out faults and so on, they will have a system call peer progression whereby effective from July the first of this year they will receive one increment in their salary scale…come 2023 the technicians who would perform exceptionally well during the course of 2022 into 2023 will receive an additional of one increment in their economic scale.”
Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton, who was also present at the signing, acknowledged the relationship between GTT and GPTWU, and stated that it demonstrates that “change in style and leadership can improve working conditions.”
