…to keep union engaged, looks to 2017

AMID the uncertainty as to whether the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) will accept or reject government’s final offer of 10% salary increase to the lowest-paid public servants, President David Granger said on Thursday that his administration will proceed with the package, even as he committed to continued engagement with the union for the rest of the year. Speaking on his weekly programme, The Public Interest, President Granger said the 10% is as much as the government can do as of September 1, 2016. He said the administration was in the process of preparing its budget for an early reading in December and as such, they need to wrap up this aspect of their expenditures. President Granger said too that the final wages and salaries increase offer should not be viewed as unjust, but as what the government can afford at this time. Asked by a reporter how he will respond to reactions by some that the wage offer is unjust, Granger said: “It is not unjust; it is what is affordable at present.” President Granger justified the government’s final offer of 10 per cent for the lowest level of public servants and one per cent for the highest paid by stating that his administration did not anticipate the “volume of indebtedness” that exists.

He said government has been bailing out the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) at billions of dollars for years, while noting that there has been a drop in commodity prices globally. The fall in commodity prices has affected the country’s revenues. “We have not been able to find sufficient funding for the social agencies,” said President Granger, who noted that the University of Guyana (UG), the public school system and the health system are still in need of adequate funds. Government has lifted the old age pension ceiling, but it was not a significant increase.
“I am not saying that the public servants do not deserve more, but we did everything that is possible …we entered into negotiations in good faith…we haven’t discontinued negotiations, but that is the final offer we put on the table because we have to prepare next year’s budget and we have to tidy up this business before the next quarter,” he added.
The President noted too that he met with the Guyana Public Service Union’s (GPSU) President Patrick Yarde recently and stressed the need for an “efficient public service.” He told journalists on the programme that his administration will continue to engage the union. Should the GPSU refuse the government’s offer, President Granger said government is prepared to proceed with that which it offered. “The award that we have put forward is as much as we can do as at the 1st September – we intend to proceed with that…we’d like to encourage the union to remain engaged with government’s negotiators, because we have to look at 2017 and as I said, there are going to be other elements on the table…not only salary…there are other things the union requested of us.”
President Granger made it clear that talks have not been discontinued, but its offer to pay a 10 per cent increase to persons earning $99,000 or less, six per cent to persons who earn between $100,000 and $299,000, five per cent to public servants earning between $300,000 and $799,000, two per cent for those earning between $800,000 and $999,000 and one per cent for those earning above $1M still stands.
“We want to continue to speak with the union for the rest of this year so that we have an outcome in 2017 that is satisfactory to both sides,” the President declared.
The GPSU last Thursday said government’s “final offer” on the wages and salaries talks, will be decided upon today at the union’s General Council meeting and has maintained its argument that public servants ought to be provided with a “living wage.”
That union has been calling on the government to lift wages and salaries to a living wage, resolve the issue of de-bunching within the salary scales as well as to address the adequacy of allowances paid to public servants.
Negotiations between the APNU+AFC coalition government and the GPSU began in June this year and resulted with the government initially offering a 5.5 per cent increase for public servants earning below $100,000. That proposal was rejected by the GPSU. Instead, the union proposed a flat increase of $7,500 monthly added to the salaries of public servants at December 31, 2015, as well as to the amount payable at the minimum and maximum of each of bands 1 – 14 of the Schedule of Salary in the Public Service; and a 25 per cent increase across the board to the salary of all public servants as well as the amount payable at the minimum and maximum of each of the bands 1- 14.
For 2017, it was proposed that there be a flat increase of $7,000 monthly added to the salaries of public servants at the end of December 2016, along with the amount payable at the minimum and maximum of each band. Additionally, a 20 per cent increase across the board on all salaries as at December 2016 for public servants, coupled with the amount payable at the minimum and maximum of each of the 14 bands.
In 2018, the GPSU recommended a flat increase of $9,000 monthly added to the salaries at the end of the previous year, as well as the amount payable at the minimum and maximum of each band. A 20 per cent across the board was also recommended in 2018. The union noted that in each of the years an additional increase should be provided for to cover inflation as determined by the Bureau of Statistics.
On Thursday, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo called on the government to fulfil its manifesto promise to provide substantial salary increases for public servants. Jagdeo, a former president, said the one-year- old administration is playing “fancy footworks again,” referencing the salary increases granted last year for government ministers. He argued that public servants at the lower end of the tier will not benefit from a 10 per cent as stated by the government, but between a six and seven per cent increase in their salaries.
“They promised the public servants substantial increases; secondly, they took the huge salary increases for themselves. When you look at the weighted average, it is not 10 per cent. [They] announced a high percentage but made it effective from July the last time. It is fancy footworks again. When you look at the weighted average, this could be depending on the dispersing and how many people are in different categories, it may be around 6-6.5/ 7 per cent increase across the board.”
The former president cautioned citizens that they should examine government’s proposal carefully. “People have to be very, very careful about this,” he said, while noting that the government has “tens of billions of dollars sitting in bank accounts of these entities; they had argued we were keeping money outside of the Consolidated Fund to steal.”
Jagdeo said with the alleged amount outside of the Consolidated Fund, government can afford to meet the requests of the union. “It is either they transfer it in now and fulfil their elections promises, or I think if they transfer it in now then the GPSU’s demand will be payable,” said Jagdeo.