By Antonio Dey
The government’s evasiveness in engaging the GPSU on the collective bargaining process is discomforting as public servants continue to migrate said the union’s President Patrick Yarde yesterday at a press briefing.
Yarde told journalists at the Guyana Public Service Union’s (GPSU’s ) Office on Regent Road, Georgetown that over 300 nurses have left the Georgetown Public Hospital, all because of the PPP/C government’s non-caring attitude to their well-being and demands for better wages and salaries.
He also flagged the former APNU+AFC government for blatantly disregarding workers’ rights to livable wages and salaries under the collective bargaining agreement
“The public would have thought that President Irfaan Ali, who promised a lofty 50 per cent increase for public servants while castigating the APNU+AFC for their selfish 50 per cent increase to ministers, disregard for collective bargaining, insensitivity to health workers and other public servants, would have learned from those mistakes which also resulted in ousting of his party from power in 2015,” the GPSU read in a statement.
On September 26, 2023, the union wrote a letter to Chief Labour Officer, Dhaneshwar Deonarine, concerning the breakdown of industrial relations with the Ministry of Public Service.
It noted in the letter that despite several communications with Permanent Secretary of the Public Service Ministry, Soyinka Grogan, on the subject there was no response given to a letter sent on May 9th, 2023.
Reference was made to correspondences sent with requests for the revising of wages, salaries and allowances which are yet to be ventilated in accordance with provisions outlined in the Trade Union Recognition Act Chapter 98:07.
The GPSU said that efforts to achieve an amicable consensus in relation to the collective bargaining agreement with the Government is currently at a deadlock.
The media was reminded that the 1999 Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) which ended the 57-day strike was signed by the late Dr Roger Luncheon, then Cabinet Secretary, on behalf of the Government of Guyana with representatives of the unions and mediation team and addressed a range of issues.
The union also informed the media of a letter sent to President Ali on May 16, 2022, calling for the expeditious enhancement of conditions of service for medical personnel which has never been acknowledged.
“The Guyana Public Service Union is predicting a continued deterioration in the health sector which is already bordering on collapse unless factors which are driving the unabated migration of health workers from all fields and levels of qualifications are addressed in a comprehensive manner,” it noted.
“Physicians, who continue to receive a paltry $600 housing allowance per month at a time when rent and prices of materials for construction is increasing, will find their home in other countries. Medical interns who continue to suffer the exploitation of working 16 to 24 hours on call (overtime) with no compensation will continue to unapologetically migrate to countries where they will be treated with more respect. To add insult to injury, those who protect the health of the country are forced to eat and sleep in woefully inadequate and unsanitary conditions,” the GPSU added.
Yarde urged the government to stop playing games with the careers of the workers who sacrificed for this country during the COVID-19 pandemic and will be called upon, if they are still here, in future crises.
He stated that the gravity of the situation requires a more aggressive approach.
“To this end the GPSU is appealing to all members of the Public Service to stand in solidarity and be vigilant in the coming months as we press for a quick and decisive resolution of all pending matters”, he said.
The GPSU spoke of a meeting on September 20 in New York between the presidents of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and the United States, Joe Biden, which saw the launch of the Partnership for Workers’ Rights. This unprecedented initiative between the two countries aims to promote decent work, with better wages, rights, and opportunities, and without discrimination against women, ethnic groups and LGBTQIA+ people.
It noted that President Biden, was on the picket line in support of auto workers who were on strike in the United States, recognising the view that their actions were just and should be considered.
Yarde is adamant that the government should take pages out of the Biden administration’s book and truly represent the rights of civil servants.
On Monday, Public Service Minister, Sonia Parag, declined to comment on the status of the long-overdue collective bargaining engagement with the 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. When questioned as to whether she would provide information on the matter, Parag replied in the negative.
