The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) has rejected government’s contention that “there is no obligation for consultation” on hiking the pay of public servants, saying that it “flies in the face of the very underpinnings of the Trade Union movement, and compromises the constitutional rights of the employees to join, and be represented by, trade unions.”
The GPSU has taken government to court for what it says is its refusal to engage in collective bargaining, calling the administration’s 7% increase across the board for public servants last year, arbitrary and unlawful.
The union has made it clear that it has not sought an order rescinding the 7% increase to public servants but “a declaration that in so far as it was made without consultation, it is in breach of the provisions of the relevant legislation and the provisions of the various collective agreements.”
The GPSU is asking the Court to declare that without negotiations, the increase is not in conformity to the necessary framework provided for by either the Constitution or the Trade Union Recognition Act.
The Union said that in addition to breaching the law, government has also disregarded the provisions of the Inter-national Labour Organization Conventions (ILO).
It is against this background that it is asking the Court to compel the government to engage it in collective bargaining negotiations.
Further, the Claimant GPSU is seeking damages against the government in the sum of $3 million for breaching the law; together with interest, cost and any further order the Court deems just to grant against the Attorney General and Permanent Secretary of the Public Service Ministry, who have been listed as Defendants.
Through its attorney Mandisa Breedy, the Union argues that the golden thread which runs through both the legislative provisions and the collective agreements, is that there ought to be consultation and negotiation in relation to the terms and conditions of employment of public servants.
It notes further that conferences regarding such matters are also to be held “without unreasonable delay” as set out in its Memorandum of Agreement with government through the Public Service Ministry.
“Any other interpretation would render both the Unions and the trade union legislation superfluous, ineffective and irrelevant,” says the Union’s First Vice President, Dawn Gardner, in an affidavit supporting their September 13th, 2022 claim.
Gardner in her responding affidavit to averments made by the Attorney General and the Public Service Ministry said “the very fact of the Defendants’ averment that there is no obligation for consultation flies in the face of the very underpinnings of the Trade Union movement, and compromises the constitutional rights of the employees to join, and be represented by, trade unions.”
As a result, she said that their application seeking to strike out the claim, ought to be refused.
Background
The GPSU has said 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 on Thursday 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.
“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.
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.
On November 19 last year, the Minister of Public Service Sonia Parag told this newspaper that the government was “pressed for time” before it announced its 7% increase for public servants, resulting in the union not being consulted.
“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.
