-management, union reps. for talks today

Following threats of countrywide strike action by technical staff of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) on Monday, the management of the power company is expected to meet with the workers’ union representatives today.Plans are afoot to improve the 2% increase offered by the power company to the affected workers, and retroactive payment is likely.

Staff of the technical departments of GPL’s offices across the power grid banded together and downed tools on Monday morning, protesting the 2% salary increase which the management of the power company imposed. The offer followed a year of meetings with the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE), which on occasions were at a standstill as the two sides could not agree on the level of improved wages and salaries for the workers.

Acting GPL CEO Renford Homer noted at a press conference at the power company’s offices on Duke Street, Kingston on Monday afternoon that the entity is negotiating wages for 2016 with the union. He said NAACIE had rejected the proposal made by GPL earlier this year, and talks had broken down to a point where things had come to a standstill. Following Monday’s actions, Homer said, the two parties have agreed to meet today, and the power company’s management will place an improved offer on the table.

Homer added that the percentages can, before the end of 2016, be worked in favour of the affected employees, and they should be able to receive a retroactive payment.

A number of GPL employees protested outside the company’s Main Street, Georgetown offices on Monday, with some travelling from as far as Berbice to join their colleagues. The workers, who man the national power grid on a 24-hour basis, contended that the 2% increase offered is unreasonable and does not cater for increases in the cost of living. Thus they are calling on subject Minister David Patterson to intervene on their behalf.

An Area “A” Victoria employee who spoke to this publication on Main Street described the situation as “heart-rending”. He noted that the men work for 24 hours from Sunday to Sunday.

“It’s unfair to us that we got to be working under these conditions thinking that the management have us at heart, but that is not the case”, another employee said.