Dear Editor,
The Teachers’ Union is demanding a 50% salary increase. To be paid in one-shot. The Government is offering 6.5%. There is a huge gap here. Pundits and Opinion-makers should offer up some numbers. How do we bridge this yawning gap? I suggest a 30% increase covering 3-years, to be phased in at 10% each year. If 30% over 3-years is too low, then try 33% or 36% over 3-years. There is room for negotiation.
There is justification for the Teachers’ Union demand for a Cost-of-Living salary increase. There is a proven 20-25% food inflation in the country. The SN cost-of-living series published over the last several months surveying heads of households have established this fact. Pollster Vishnu Bisram had traveled to Guyana 3-times in the past 3-months to do surveys – he too has detailed the unbearable hardships citizens are experiencing over rising cost of basic food items.
Bisram has also confirmed that there is a 20 – 25% increase in food prices. He told me prices of produce (tomatoes, bora, bigan) are cheaper in New York than in Guyana. These are food crops that can be grown and reaped in 3-months. Couldn’t the government figure out a way to double supplies of locally-grown produce? (What to make of gov’t’s much-bandied “food security”, “food security” sloganeering?).
Maybe it is time to consider this question: Should Guyana import 50,000 labourers from Thailand – as Israel has done successfully – to grow and package locally-grown produce? It is time for the Guyanese nation to have a debate on this question to help it formulate and settle on new labour-import policies. The bottom line – the urgency – is to bring this strike to an end before this week runs out. Strikes for 3-weeks or more are bound to result in unbearable frustrations on the part of the strikers – this leads to tensions – this will result in arson and violence. Historically, violence breaks out in months-long Labour-Management strikes.
There must be a sense of nation-wide urgency to bring this strike to an immediate end. Not to say anything about the disruptions to students’ education; especially those who are scheduled to take their CSEC exams. Note: Guyana is currently stuck with a 35-year PSA (Production Sharing Agreement) contract that pays 2% royalty. Two-percent royalty is unheard of – doesn’t exist – anywhere in the world. Compared to Suriname’s 6.25% royalty, Guyana stands to lose/forego $37 billion on an 11-billion-barrel reserve. Unions in Guyana must agitate for renegotiation of the PSA – this way it makes it easier for the government to afford to pay wages/salaries to match the rising Cost-of-living.
Sincerely,
Mike Persaud
