– partial payout to begin soon
City Hall workers represented by the Guyana Labour Union (GLU) are slated to receive retroactive payments in the sum of $38.5 million after an arbitration panel adjudged a 7% increase in their wages for the two previous years.
Hamilton Green
There is now concern as to how the payments will be made by the cash-strapped municipality. At the first statutory meeting of the year held yesterday, Georgetown councillors disagreed over how the money should be paid. A meeting with the GLU is scheduled for today where arrangements will be made to pay part of the owed money. Agreements will have to be made to pay the rest later in the year.
Compulsory arbitration was imposed to resolve the dispute between the Mayor and City Council and the GLU by Minster of Labour Manzoor Nadir. The parties had been at loggerheads over the increase in wages and salaries for 2007 and 2008, forcing the minister’s intervention.
Deputy Mayor Robert Williams, who is also Chairman of the Finance Committee, was of the opinion that the council was not ably represented on the tribunal, since the report indicates that City Hall had the potential to collect its taxes and pay its workers but it did not. Councillor Patricia Chase-Green was vocal on the point that poor negotiations on the part of the city’s administration “led to this predicament.”
Councillor Garrett stated that leave passage should be withheld from senior workers who are represented by the Guyana Local Government Officers Union (GLGOU) and who have received 10% increases in their salaries already. Their money should be deferred to be paid later in the year and the money should go towards the retroactive payment for lower workers. Acting Town Clerk Yonette Pluck said she was not aware that leave passage was to be paid this month.
Mayor Hamilton Green said that the issue is a “sorry and sad” one but stressed that one set of persons should not be put out for the benefit of another group. Green said the issue of non payment of wages and salaries will forever plague the council because there just are not enough resources for the size of the staff. He emphasised the desperate need for restructuring, which has been on the council’s agenda for years now.
Green said the council is at a point where it cannot fix potholes that are within a few feet of City Hall’s Charlotte Street’s entrance. Additionally, its telephone, water and electricity services are constantly being cut off because of the huge sums of money owed to the utility companies. He said there are a lot of workers who are being paid but are not performing.
An example was given of road workers who were on the payroll for last year yet the council did not do any road work for the entire year. “You cannot have people being paid for idling and don’t have the money to pay them,” Green said.
Councillor Fitzgerald Agard said it was futile to once again talk of restructuring, when action was needed. He said department heads have shown reluctance to make lists of what each of their workers did and the council should do the research and present the lists. It can then be determined where shifts are needed and where persons will have to be let go.
Meanwhile, a motion was tabled by Williams to review the council’s relationship with Republic Bank. The motion which had originally contained words to the effect of removing the council’s account to another bank was amended after invention by Green, who urged the councillors not to “set out on an aggressive, contentious note,” rather to approach the bank, request an audience and hear its side of the story.
The motion resulted out of the bank’s reluctance to grant a $50 million loan when the city had needed the money to pay its workers’ wages and salaries last month. The bank made a written response to the municipality dated January 6, stating that it would not grant the loan since the government had paid its taxes.
However, Williams said the city could have been spared the embarrassment if the bank had granted the request when it was made since December 24 last year.
He said the loan would have been paid back within two weeks with the money that the government delayed in paying and the workers could have been paid before the New Year. Instead, he said, the bank procrastinated, all the while saying it was awaiting a response from Trinidad.
This is good news to hear that the workers will be paid retroactively, but how will the city pay them if the coffers are empty.
This is Hammie’s lame-brain idea to buy himself popularity to deflect that he is a lame-duck Mayor. It’s a feather in the cap of the Union also, because to the workers, it appears that the Union bargained for and got a retroactive increase in salary.
Money in your pocket and bank account will always guarantee a false sense of security to back the “Hand that gave it”. Hammie Green and the Union leaders will demand their pound of flesh from the workers that “sold their soul” when the dust settles around Hammie’s feet.
A younger, educated Mayor is needed for the Capitol City of Guyana. A fresh mind for a fresher Georgetown.
no money, garbage piling up because of lack of funds, what game is he playing.
‘popularity contest nothing more’
Green has mismanaged the city for so long it pains.
Quoting from above “Green said the council is at a point where it cannot fix potholes that are within a few feet of City Hall’s Charlotte Street’s entrance. Additionally, its telephone, water and electricity services are constantly being cut off because of the huge sums of money owed to the utility companies. He said there are a lot of workers who are being paid but are not performing.
An example was given of road workers who were on the payroll for last year yet the council did not do any road work for the entire year. “You cannot have people being paid for idling and don’t have the money to pay them,” Green said.”
Mismanagement! Incompetency! Imagine this guy has the audacity to admit he can’t even fix a pot hole. And he now wants to be a part of the PNC that wants to manage Guyana. Utter nonsense! Time green and his cohorts go!
A Persaud i agree that Hammie has mismanaged the city council, but you also have to be cognisant of the fact, that the Government is also starving the council of revenues. Just because the Government can’t get it way with the council its not paying its rates for the various ministries. This is not about just removing Hammie but you have to convince the voters to remove him. The government is mismanaging just like Hammie but still you cant convince some people to vote against them.
a.persaud, i believe its time for greene to go but the govt diliberately starved the council of much need funds because its run by the pnc, its all political.
John I am not sure how I can reply directly under your comments. However this is response to your comments: Is the Mayor and City Council(M&CC) working with a budget? And if so is it a feasible budget? Is the rates and taxes currently charged adequate to cover the city council expenses? The database at city council needs to be revised and be updated. The M&CC needs to implement systems that can generate adequate revenue to meets its expenditure needs. It can be done with competent staff and the relevant training.
Only if as Guyanese they can set aside politics and work in the interest of the people, can the country be better. Sadly Green has failed miserably again.
Tiger my questions remains the same. What about the Council budget? What measure can the council put in place to penalize non paying city residents and customers? The government cannot be the only scapegoat for the M&CC failures under Green. I get the impression Green wants to run the City like a cake shop. And even that I think Green will fail at.
excuses for every thing, same mentality since the previous administration. ‘ten men filling one pot hole in a whole day’.
i have watch this in the 70’s, men getting paid to stand over a pot hole all day doing nothing.
“WHEN YOU HAVE A CARD IN THOSE DAYS YOU ARE KING”
I don’t get it. HG is a senior PNC/R official. The PNC/R is always complaining that their membership is underpaid. Then why is he peeved when city workers are awarded a retroactive increase?
Now that they want him out of office, he’s now coming up with good ideas? Where was this rationale all the time?
Phili u r right
Kudos! to the executives of the Guyana Labour Union and their members of the city of Georgetown for being awarded a retroactive payment to the tune of $38.5 million by an arbitration panel. However, I am wondering from where the city will source the money to honour this pay out since it is at the point of bankruptcy. Having living wages is an ideal situation but they must be sustainable in both short and long term, if not this can lead inevitably to industrial action- job loss and unemployment. Good luck fellow Guyanese…
Mayor of the City of Georgetown,paid for doing nothing for over ten years.
GOSH! WE NEED NEW PEOPLE IN THERE…WHERE IS ALL THE YOUNG EDUCATED PEOPLE OF GUYANA..THIS IS YOUR TIME OT MAKE A CHANGE AND GET THESE OLD GUYS OUT OF THERE….(OLD AS IN THE TIME THEY SPEND THERE)..DON’T THESE GUYS KNOW HOW TO RETIRE? GET THEM OUTTA THERE PLEASE..I AM SO SICK AND TIRED OF SEEING THE SAME OLD POLITICIANS SINCE I BORN..THEY NEED TO GO
although i do agree that it’s time for greene to call it quits and should direct his energies to his pharmacy and still make a meaningful contribution to guyanese,as i’ve said in my previous blogg on this issue, even if the mayorship is a member of the pnc, he too will encounter problems from the govt which financed the council, untill the govt has full control of the city, only then will guyanese see developments taken place.
Look at them pearly whites old boy skinnin; just can’t tell if they are the real ting anymore or if he had them custom fitted…Many aspects of the capital looks old and out dated, not saying that Mr. Mayor might be too but the city can definitely use a little bit of updating. Georgetown has great potential for trade/commerce and tourism. A new Mayor with fresh/modern ideas to transform the city is past due.