The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) says that there is a deliberate conspiracy by the government to pauperize public servants through its failure to address the issue of salary and other benefits.
The accusation was levelled at a press conference yesterday where GPSU’s President Patrick Yarde said that government has been doling out cash grants and other benefits to several sections of the society while actively ignoring the plight of public servants.
The union said that government has shown scant regard for the rule of law while consistently violating local labour laws and International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions. It also bashed the government for its failure to meet at the negotiation table and has since approached the courts seeking redress.
The GPSU is asking the court to compel the government to adhere to the tenets of collective bargaining.
“We would like the court to recognize that the government has an obligation to collective bargaining which has three steps – bilaterals which they seem not to be engaging… if that fails and there is deadlock then it will go to conciliation at the Ministry of Labour and if that fails, it goes to arbitration,” Yarde told the media yesterday.
In the past, PPP/C governments have 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 from 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 2020, the GPSU has been writing and calling on the government to commence negotiations regarding salaries and other benefits.
Yarde previously described the Government’s actions as “discriminatory” while pointing out that the GPSU has written several times since 2020 requesting collective bargaining on public servants’ wages, salaries and allowances to no avail.
GPSU’s Education Officer, Vera Naughton at yesterday’s press conference, said that the public service has been “politically destabilized” while hammering the government for its failure to respect the rights of the workers. She said that the union has also seen the reversal of a previous agreement between the PPP and GPSU as it relates to contract workers.
“The right of workers to be represented by the trade union of choice is being disrespected by the constant refusal to enter into collective bargaining as provided for in the laws of Guyana,” she noted.
GPSU said that while the constitution guarantees protection from discrimination, the Irfaan Ali-led government has not applied the same tenets to its treatment of public servants. The union charged that the government has failed to be “evenhanded” in its approach to poverty alleviation while making direct references to the plethora of one-off cash grants handed out.
It noted that the processes have been politicized while identifying that a $250,000 cash grant was made to severed sugar workers who had received their severance packages and full compensation from the Guyana Sugar Corporation. GPSU noted that the government favoured doling out additional monies to the sugar workers while severed workers of the Bauxite Company of Guyana were denied their proper benefits and their plights ignored.
“The fisherfolk grant of $150,000 that may have had its roots in a reported economic decline in the industry, but which is incomparable to the plights of the severed bauxite workers or that of Public Servants. Payment of a miserly pension grant of $28,000 to pensioners, who struggle on a daily basis to make ends meet, with the substandard resources available to them. This group comprise a large percentage of former Public Servants, who are in receipt of substandard pension packages because of starvation wages received over their years of work,” the Union highlighted.
The GPSU said that Ali’s vision of “One Guyana” seems only applicable in theory because the implementation of the projects and programmes leaves much to be desired. It pointed out that since assuming office in August of 2020, the Ali administration has only managed to pay public servants a $25,000 cash grant and impose an across-the-board 7% increase in their salaries. GPSU said that while the government has been on an extended political campaign, funded by taxpayers, it has been ignoring the issues faced by the public service, particularly in the healthcare sector.
Naughton said that the government deliberately neglected the nurses and doctors during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic by refusing to pay them risk allowances.
Yarde said that the Union does not have an issue with the government providing aid to other sections of the workforce but noted that it must address the plights of public servants.
“I have no objection if they are using the resources to give to whoever they want [but they have] to give to the people who collect the revenue, give to the people who discharge the responsibilities of their programmes. But it seems to me as if there is a deliberate, deliberate conspiracy to pauperize public servants,” he said.
Disregard
The GPSU said the government continues to show blatant disregard for industrial relations, collective bargaining, ILO Conventions and labour laws. The Union said that government has displayed a lack of concern for public servants.
“…the action of Government appears discriminatory, given that some Trade Unions aligned to Government seems to have access to the collective bargaining mechanism with Government and have had remedies for their members. However, GPSU has repeatedly written to Government, since the year 2020, requesting collective bargaining on Public Servants’ wages, salaries and allowances, to no avail. In fact, Government appears to be on track to make another illegal declaration for salaries and wage increases in December 2022, as has been its modus operandi for several years.
“It is now approaching the end of October 2022, almost twenty-seven months after being sworn into office and ten months into the financial year 2022, without any movement towards Government meeting its responsibilities and obligations under legally binding Collective Labour Agreements, Labour Laws, ILO Conventions and workers’ rights enshrined in the Constitution,” the GPSU said.
GPSU President Yarde noted that in addition to that, the Union will be requesting the ILO Committee of Experts to examine the government’s failure to deal with the matters at hand. He said that Minister of Public Service Sonia Parag has now inserted herself in the bilateral phase of the collective bargaining arrangement. Yarde explained that the lead in the bilateral negotiation is traditionally taken up by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry but that has not been happening. He noted that Union has taken issue with the unpreparedness of Parag which resulted in them not making any headway in talks.
The Union last met with the Minister in June.
“One of the concerns we had expressed to the minister was that when you agreed to meet with us, you must find the time to. Because meetings are always terminated prematurely with [the minister having] something to be done. I [had to ask Minister Parag] if the government workers are not important, are they not a priority? Can’t you put aside time to meet? We met with government officials, including ministers and Cabinet Secretary over the weekend [and they did not behave like Parag]. We are saying that find time for there to be meaningful discussions and come prepared to have these discussions,” Yarde said.
On November 19 last year, the Minister of Public Service said that the government was “pressed for time” before it announced its 7% increase for public servants, resulting in the union not being consulted. The Minister made the comment during a brief telephone interview with the Stabroek News.
“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.
Since then, nothing has been heard from Parag or the government on collective bargaining for 2022.
In August, President Ali said that the meeting with GPSU Vice President Dawn Gardener was not only centred around salaries but a comprehensive strategy to improve public servants’ lives. In the wide-ranging discussion, he said, the views were exchanged on the possibilities of workers being able to own their own homes, having access to better standards in terms of health education and support for their children going to school.
Questioned whether this discussion would have been in breach of the bargaining process as outlined by the ILO, Ali responded in the negative.
“It was a conversation and that conversation can lead to parties presenting their position, and then we can move to an official structure…It was an open discussion…,” he said.
