Dear Editor,

THE Guyana Public Service Union notes, with a mixture of puzzlement and surprise, the comments attributed to His Excellency the President and seemingly directed to public servants. Those statements declared in part that “If they want to be lazy they will get a lazy person’s remuneration.”

The Guyana Public Service Union is a firm believer in the principle that reward, in whatever field of endeavour, should be associated with effort. We hasten to add that with regard to public servants as a whole, this category of workers is richly deserving of far greater reward than they receive at this time. We humbly submit, too, that the phenomenon of unequal effort amongst various workers is not unique to the Public Service.

Indeed, it has been our experience that that deficiency is also to be found in other critical areas of public service, where the transgression never seems to attract threats of remuneration commensurate with effort.

The point should be made, too, that what, in the instance of the Public Service, might be construed as laziness may well — in effect and insofar as it exists -– be the consequences of a protracted experience of being under-resourced and inadequately incentivized.

Indeed, we believe that some of the findings of the recently concluded Report of the Commission of Enquiry into the Public Service bear out our position.

Nor can the Union pretend to be unaware of the nexus between the timing of His Excellency’s comment and what, we hope, is the imminent announcement of a date for the commencement of negotiations on wages and salaries.

Indeed, we hasten to express the hope that while that may not be the substantive intention, His Excellency’s comments do not inadvertently serve to guide or prejudice the focus and direction of the forthcoming engagement on wages and salaries.
Regards,
GPSU