-GPSU tells public servants

By Ariana Gordon
DESPITE government’s intention to impose salary increases on public servants, President of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) Patrick Yarde said his advice to workers is to “take it and use it- it is what you earned… [It is a] payment to a debt.” Government has indicated that it will start paying the increase from October. Speaking to the Guyana Chronicle on Wednesday, Yarde when asked what would be his advice to public servants given government’s position on the wages and salaries increase, Yarde said: “our position to our members is that they should take it and use it.” He argued that while the government’s position has been rejected, public servants have worked hard and deserve to benefit from whatever is provided by the government. Our position to our members is, they should take it and use it- it is what they have earned… [It is a] payment to a debt. While we condemn it, we will view it as interim payment,” Yarde told Guyana Chronicle.
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of the Public Service, Reginald Brotherson, believes that the Guyana Public Service Union and government will soon be back at the negotiations table, but this time it would be to deal with allowances. In an invited comment to the Guyana Chronicle, Brotherson assured the newspaper that negotiations are not off the table. He explained that the government placed a number of interventions to the union and both parties had agreed that once the issue of wages and salaries has been addressed, “we’d be looking at allowances.” “We have gone into the discussions very open and there were proposals, and counter proposals…When the government returns to the table, we will be looking at allowances, which is part of the whole package,” the permanent secretary told the Guyana Chronicle.
Yarde argued that should the government go ahead with its plan to pay public servants between 10 per cent at the lowest tier and one per cent at the highest, its action would be viewed as “reneging on a commitment.” Yarde told the Guyana Chronicle on Wednesday evening that the union will “wait and see” what the government does, but noted that it would be “a most irregular, blatant and unlawful act” if the administration goes ahead to pay what it deemed its “final offer” to the workers. Yarde said the APNU+AFC coalition government would be in “conflict with their obligation to the legally binding Avoidance and Settlement of Disputes” agreement. “I hope good sense prevails,” said the GPSU President. On Wednesday, Stabroek News reported that Brotherson said Government will begin paying the differentiated increases in October. “This payment will be made without prejudice to whatever steps the union next chooses to take,” Brotherson told Stabroek News.
The GPSU has rejected the government’s differentiated offer of 10 per cent for the lowest categories of workers and one per cent to the highest paid workers. Last Thursday, President David Granger said the government will go ahead with the payment of the 10 per cent increase, even as he committed to continuing talks with the GPSU. On his weekly televised programme, ‘The Public Interest,’ the President said 10 per cent is all his government can offer at this stage. “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. The GPSU has argued that the government can well afford to pay public servants a “living wage” as promised in its campaign leading up to the May 2015 elections. He said the unused $6B allocated under the “other employment costs” heading could be used to pay public servants.