THE Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) and the Ministry of Education have reached a deadlock over talks regarding the state of affairs of sweeper/ cleaners, weeks after the protestors came off the streets.
Sweeper/cleaners had in early August begun protesting the Ministries of the Presidency, Finance and Education, seeking redress for what they said were inhumane treatment by the relevant authorities. They decried, among other things their low wages and poor working conditions.

A source from the Guyana Public Service Union (PSU) told the Guyana Chronicle on Monday that there were still some “back and forth” between the Union and the Education Ministry. GPSU First Vice-President, Mortimer Livan explained that the Education Ministry had made a counter proposal to the one presented to them by the union.
Following the last protest in front of the Ministry of Education three weeks ago, the ministry had asked that the GPSU make some proposals on behalf of the sweeper/cleaners. However, according to Livan, the Education Ministry responded with its own proposal, setting the discussions a few steps backward.

In the meanwhile, the sweeper/cleaners were hoping that some positive word would have been given before the commencement, on Monday, of the new school year. Government had said that the issue in relation to the sweeper/cleaners had been in existence for years and had started under the previous administration. However, the GPSU said it is only asking government to implement some of the recommendations made by Cabinet back in 2013.

These include: the upgrading of the status of the cleaners; that they be employed on the Permanent Establishment; that they be paid in keeping with the Public Servant Minimum Wage regime; that their National Insurance Scheme (NIS) be paid; and that they be granted annual leave, retroactive to at least two years.