THE recent implementation of the five-day/40-hour per week regulation applies to all workers in every industry or sector of Guyana.

This is according to Chief Labour Officer, Mr. Charles Ogle, who, in an interview yesterday, told the media that the regulation is a universal law of Guyana and applies to every worker in each of the 10 administrative regions of the country.
He stated that every worker should be required to work 40 hours over a five-day period each week, and should be paid overtime rates for any additional hours.
Ogle explained that this is not a new initiative, noting that since 1986 Guyana had moved to have a five-day work week. However, at that time, the regulation applied only to public/government entities.
He further stated that the labour movement believes that rest is important to everyone, hence the universal implementation of the regulation, which became effective on July 1.
“We see the importance of rest, rest is important for the worker…they need to have time to socialise with their families,” he remarked.
Ogle reiterated that the law now applies to everyone, including media workers and the private sector, and failure to comply with it can result in penalties being applied.
Meanwhile, Vice-Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC), Mr. Clinton Urling, had said that the commission welcomes the minimum wage increase to $35,000 monthly, but is calling for a review and re-examination of the five-day work week in order to ascertain the potential economic impact.
Urling indicated that workers of some companies work for five or six hours a day and this is stretched over the six days. He further called on the government to stretch the 40-hour work week over six days.
According to Urling, the formula was not feasible, particularly for entities in the hospitality and mining sectors, in which he said two days would basically be non- productive days.
Ogle noted that the PSC had no objections to the increased minimum wage, and pointed out that while it was increased only slightly, it is a vast improvement from what it was previously.
He pointed out that prior to this increase; the minimum wage had not increased for four years. He stated that even for workers in the private sector, it is government’s responsibility to ensure that all workers are earning a respectable wage.
As it relates to the five-day work week stipulation, Ogle explained that it does not necessarily mean Monday to Friday. For instance, he stated, workers could be asked to work from Tuesday to Saturday or Wednesday to Friday.
“It could be any five days that you choose. We’re saying 40 hours or five days, anything after that is overtime,” he stated.