With the last quarter of the year approaching, neither the Public Service Ministry nor the GPSU appear to be keen on pushing for free collective bargaining for public servants.
Public Service Minister Sonia Parag yesterday declined to comment on the status of the long-overdue collective bargaining engagement with the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) for 2023 and on outstanding matters from previous years.
The minister when contacted by Stabroek News said that she was in a meeting and would not be able to comment on the issue. Further attempts by this newspaper to question if the subject minister would provide information on the matter resulted in a no.
Back in August, this newspaper contacted GPSU Vice President Dawn Gardener to ascertain whether the organization had made headway in relation to the collective bargaining talks with the government, since it has been pressing for this over the last three years with the PPP/C government.
Gardener had promised to supply information on the matter to Stabroek News but failed to do so.
The GPSU Vice President when contacted by Stabroek News yesterday for an update informed that a forthcoming press conference is expected to address the outstanding matter. It is unclear what steps the union has taken for the year so far on securing talks.
Back in October 2022, President of the GPSU, Patrick Yarde had accused the government of continuously procrastinating in relation to addressing the issue of wages and salaries for public servants.
According to him, it had been more than two years since the Irfaan Ali government ascended to the seat of power and it was yet to commence the process of collective bargaining with the GPSU.
The union said that it had written to the government several times but was yet to secure a commitment.
Last year during the month of August, President irfaan Ali met with GPSU’s First Vice President Gardener where they had an “engagement” but Yarde lamented that the government has made no move to initiate the conversation despite repeated requests from the Union.
“I would say bluntly no [the government have not made any move]. What the government has been doing is procrastinating in dealing with the matter even though we have a legally binding agreement, even though the Parliament of Guyana has ratified several ILO [International Labour Organization] conventions dealing with these matters [and] even though there are labour laws with respect to how to treat with areas that the Guyana Public Service Union have got recognition.
“It is the most difficult thing we have experienced with governments and that is respecting the process. There are bilaterals and if there is deadlock you go to conciliation and if conciliation is not successful, you go to arbitration. The government seems as though they deal purely with handouts,” he posited
He added that the government is known to “arbitrarily” impose its will on the public service without going through legal channels. He accused the government of only utilizing the laws when it is in their interest.
“…when it comes to the rights of other persons, other citizens, other organizations, especially trade unions they [government] act in conflict with their obligation to treat and deal with those matters. We have written to the government [requesting the commencement of the collective bargaining process] but they are not addressing the issue of negotiations of wages and salaries for our members,” he said.
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.”
In 2021 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.
“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 had told Stabroek News
