THE decision by Government to retroactively pay public servants an increase for 2014 follows remarks made by several stakeholders and instructions by President Donald Ramotar to cater for workers, particularly those at the lower levels of the wage scale.Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon, appearing on the National Communications Network’s ‘Political Scope’ programme on Sunday, said what was sought this time around was weighing the modest start in trying to focus the available funds for salary increases in 2014, to give a heightened percentage to those at the lower end of the scale.
“That allowed us to work with a number of different scenarios, as we were assessing what would be an ideal configuration, and we ended up, essentially with what was announced”.
Public servants earning under $50,000 will receive an 8% increase, with those above, receiving 5%.  The new wages and salary scale is retroactive to January 2014. These across the board increases are to be made as follows: those public servants and disciplinary forces members whose wages and salaries are above $50,000, as at December 31, 2014, will receive 5%; those at less than $50,000 per month, will advance by 8% retroactive to January 1, 2014; and teachers will receive an additional 3%, apart from a 5% increase already paid, in accordance with a multi-year agreement that Government would have agreed with the Guyana Teachers Union.
Dr Luncheon was joined by Agriculture Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy. The minister reiterated that since the PPP/C took office in 1992, yearly salary increases proffered by Government have been the norm, hence this recent announcement was not unexpected. He noted that the only “surprise” is that soldiers, police, fire service and teachers will benefit from an 8% increase.
It was also noted that 41% of the contracted workers who earn less than $50,000 monthly will also benefit from an 8% increase. Dr Ramsammy pointed out that this is inconsistent with arguments put forward by the political Opposition that contracted workers are as a result of government’s “wickedness” and their desire to “pay people more”. He pointed out that many of the contracted workers resulted from increased development and the resultant jobs that arose which are not normally catered for in the public service.
The recent increase has flowed from the previous increases put in place by Government, in June of this year, to raise the minimum wage and should be viewed in this context, Dr Luncheon explained.
“It illustrated what the Administration was investing in, both politically and at a humanitarian level, about workers, its policies”. He added that it flows from the sentiment by Government, “because we care about workers, but we have a special attention that we pay safety net wise, to those at the very bottom”.

Sustainability 
For Dr. Luncheon, the issue of sustainability is one which must be considered, and the only way in which salary increases can be maintained is to grow the economy. He cited the failure of the political Opposition to approve the transformational Amaila Falls Hydro Project, as the most disappointing moves by decision makers. He explained, “We had the crème de la crème, we had one of the most advanced American firms. They came here with assets of over $200B in their portfolio, and these representatives of the people, they threw that Amaila out”.
The $9B spent annually to subsidise electricity, he stressed, would have gone towards not boosting social programmes, but also to wages and salaries and even pensions. He further added that all of the major transformational projects “have been visited with a curious anti-developmental stance by the political Opposition, and they had the gall to turn around at the end of 2013 to say to this Administration, to say to the workers, to say we are not giving you enough, we must give you more money”.
This will always be the main challenge to sustaining the wage increase, Dr. Luncheon noted, unless the political Opposition “changes their ways and start seeing the overall benefit for Guyana”.
Echoing the aforementioned sentiments, Dr Ramsammy said that the votes against Amaila and the Marriott, which has seen over 3,000 persons applying for jobs, are votes against the people and Guyana’s development. “What is even worse yet is that some of these people voted for APNU, voted for AFC”.

Credit to Gov’t
Looking back on history and giving a perspective, Dr Luncheon said that in the 1970s, Guyana and Singapore were at the same level economically, but under the guidance of the People’s National Congress (PNC), which forms the A Partnership For National Unity (APNU) base, the local economy fell far behind that of its Asian counterpart. He acknowledged that there must be an opposition, but when it comes to decisions that benefit all of Guyana, they must do what is right. He said that with the savings alone, “Workers wouldn’t need (David) Granger to tell them that they could get more money”.
Credit, he said, must be given to the Government along with its planners, who despite all that was done by the Opposition, has still sustained wage increases.
Asked about the present $50,000 base or non taxable wage, it was explained that this was arrived at, after careful consideration, as to what Government could achieve and sustain, given all of the macro and micro economic realities. Dr Luncheon said that the journey that resulted in the decision to implement the new minimum wage and tax threshold must be appreciated.
Wages bill
“Anybody who came and talked about $50,000 in 1992 …this figure would have been far removed from reality at the time,” he said, “but in a well managed economy, we have been able to transition your wages bill incrementally from $3 billion to $ 42 billion”.
It was not a magical sum, he explained but “a reflection of great studies of what is sustainable, what is achievable and affordable”. He added that, “As we evolve, we improve, as we improve, we increase and that relationship must remain”.
Government’s ability to control the inflation rates has also helped to boost the real value of the dollar earned by Guyanese, according to Dr. Luncheon, and this must be understood. He said, “We have controlled inflation, we have controlled the value of the earnings of the average worker and that is equally important, perhaps it is even more important than ensuring that wages and salaries increases exceed the inflation rate annually”.
Other measures
The fact that other measures have been put in place to cushion the economic hardships faced by earners at the lower end of the wage scale must be also catered for, according to Dr. Ramsammy. These include the recent Education Grant disbursement programme, which saw parents receiving $10,000 for each child in the public school system, the electricity and water rate subsidies, mortgage relief tax incentives and others. There have also been other benefits, the minister said, such as the raising of the tax threshold, from $6,000 in 1992 to $50,000 at present, and the slight increase of National Insurance Scheme payments which only apply to those earning over $50,000.
Government, he said is always considering ways in which to ease the financial burdens of those who earn less and it would be helpful if perhaps the Opposition, instead of merely opposing initiatives and cutting them from the National Budget in a “cruel” manner, could propose innovative ideas of its own to assist in this regard.
In closing, Dr Luncheon said that once economic circumstances prevail, some of the issues can be revisited and interventions can be “matured”, in terms of offering workers even more increases.
When the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) ascended to office in 1992, public servants were in receipt of $3,137 as minimum wage which rose to $23,204 by 2005.  For 2013, a 5% increase was granted that elevated wages to $35,000. In 2012, a similar percentage increase was granted to public servants, in 2011, it was 8%, in 2010, 5% and in 2009, it was 6%. (GINA)