Concern for the welfare of employees in a society that is vulnerable to outward migration by skilled and experienced members of the work force is not just a matter of corporate conscience but a practical pursuit of good business sense, according to Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Products Ltd, Ramsay Ally.
  
Speaking at a luncheon at the Georgetown Club hosted by the company to mark the successful conclusion of  three new collective labour agreements for the company’s weekly, monthly and supervisory employees, Ally said that Sterling Products Ltd placed a high premium on enhancing the working conditions of its employees. “Our concern for worker welfare has to do with our interest in their personal development as well as the growth of the company,” Ally said.
Last week Sterling Products and the Clerical and Commercial Workers Union (CCWU) signed the new two-year agreements under which the company’s weekly and monthly employees will receive a 10.5 per cent salary increase while supervisors will receive a 9.5 per cent salary increase. Under the terms of the new agreement the salary increases are subject to review at the end of 2008 “in the event that the cost of living index percentage increase provided by the Government of Guyana exceeds the percentage increase given in the second year of the Agreement by 4 per cent.” Management and the union have agreed that in such circumstances Sterling Products employees will receive a further increase of not less than 7 per cent. Ally told Stabroek Business that apart from the improvement in salaries and conditions of work enshrined in the Agreement the company was also concerned about strengthening existing mechanisms to cater for the social concerns of the employees. In this regard he said that the company was particularly proud of the work that it had done with the support of the union to create an HIV/AIDS Workplace Committee. As part of the new Agreement with the union, Sterling Products has agreed to endorse the best practices on HIV/AIDS enshrined in the convention of the International Labour Organization on HIV/AIDS.

Acting General Secretary of the CCWU Ann Anderson said the good labour/management relations were particularly important at a time when economic conditions demanded a high level of employee commitment. She said that the relationship between the CCWU and the management of Sterling Products Limited exemplified good employer/employee relations.