Dear Editor,
I am driven to write about the current impasse between the government and the Guyana Public Service Union over wage increases, and improved conditions of work.
The government seems to be sticking to its initial offer of a five per cent across the board wage hike, and does not appear to be paying attention to ingredients within the GPSU’ s proposals for higher increases in order to cushion the obligations that public servants have to meet on a day-to-day basis.
I have respect, empathy and sympathy for Guyana’s public servants, because they are the constants in the administration and governance of the society. In any democratic society, politicians come and go, but our public servants remain, and make careers of their jobs.
Another reason for supporting realistic wage increases for public servants is because such increases would significantly reduce the temptation for those employees to indulge in corrupt practices such as taking bribes in order to augment their earnings.
Editor, from birth to death, we are all dependent on the tasks of public servants, because (for example) they are instrumental in issuingA our birth and death certificates, hence I am appealing to our media houses, the church, private-sector organizations and affiliates of the nation’s public sector unions to support to them in their current struggles for increased wages and improved conditions of employment.
Of course, I have to commend those individuals and institutions which have already expressed their solidarity with the aggrieved public service employees.
Yours faithfully,
Morris Wilson
