-wants gov’t to return to bargaining table

THE country’s main union representing public servants, the Guyana Public Service Union, has rejected the salary increases proposed by Government, and has called on the Government of Guyana “to observe the rules of the legally binding agreement between the Government and the Union for the Avoidance and Settlement of Disputes and return to the bargaining table.”Government’s proposed increases are designed to afford the lowest paid public servants a 10% increase on their salaries; and the Friday decision of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) could be deemed inconsequential as President David Granger has already declared that the increases Government has offered would be paid because the Finance Ministry is looking to wrap up the budget estimates for presentation to the National Assembly on December 5, 2016.

By virtue of a resolution, the GPSU’s General Council has said Government’s offer, which would see the highest paid public servants receiving salary increases representing one percent of their earnings, was unacceptable.

That resolution has also mandated further engagement between the negotiating team of the Union and the APNU+AFC coalition Government, which last Wednesday announced its final offer, saying it was based on what could be afforded at this time.

What Government has proposed as its final offer is 10 per cent increase for persons earning $99,000 or less; six percent for persons who earn between $100,000 and $299,000; five percent for those earning between $300,000 and $799,000; two percent for those earning between $800,000 and $999,000; and one per cent for those earning above $1M.

President Granger said on Thursday that while the payout would be made, Government is still committed to continuing talks with the GPSU. The President said Government’s final offer has resulted from the overwhelming amount of indebtedness that exits.

“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,” President Granger told reporters.

GPSU President, Patrick Yarde, in his opening address to the General Council, called for an examination of the country’s mid-year report; namely, Finance Minister Winston Jordan’s statement that less than half of the budgetary allocations has been spent, and that the subsidy allocated to the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) as passed in the national budget has been paid over in full. He has said that Government has failed to provide the Union with requested information.

According to Yarde, GPSU’s negotiators have been informed that an additional $3B are to be provided to GuySuCo, thus he asked members whether the extent of the Government’s pay offer is consistent with its own stated commitment to offering public servants a “living wage.”

He also asked the Council to consider whether the offer from Government was consistent with the Union’s concern that public servants be removed from the ranks of the employed poor; and he questioned whether the Government’s “final offer” was reflective of the spirit of fair and honourable discourse.

“Critically, we must ask ourselves this question: Where does all this leave us as Public Servants, as individuals, as members of families, and as Guyanese?”

The GPSU had proposed differentiated increases for all of the salary bands spanning three years. It had requested that the offer should begin with a flat increase of $7,500 monthly added to the salaries of public servants as at December 31, 2015.