– gov’t in no position to offer year-end payout
Government is not in a position to offer public servants the year-end payout they have been used to receiving, although it understands how important that money is to families, Public Service Minister, Dr Jennifer Westford said yesterday.
She said cash in hand is important, particularly during this season when families are getting together, but stressed the need to economise.
In May this year, President Bharrat Jagdeo announced a 5% salary hike for public servants, a temporary $4,000 non-taxable payment per month for those earning under $50,000 monthly and an initiative to keep bread prices from rising.
At the time, he noted “This increase follows a similar 5 per cent increase that has already been paid with effect from [January 1, 2008] to teachers and members of the disciplined services, and a 9 per cent increase that was paid to all of these categories of Government employees with effect from [January 1, 2007…]”
The Presi-dent also an-nounced that Government employees earning less than $50,000 would temporarily benefit from an additional tax-free top-up of $4,000 each month. This was to last to the end of the year.
Addressing members of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) at its General Council meeting, which commenced on Wednesday and wrapped up yesterday, Westford said public servants need to spend wisely at this time, and they can look to next year when government intends to address their concerns holistically. But as she spoke, some persons in the audience grumbled.
Some said they cannot take the minister’s economic advice to the market when prices are rising everyday, while others asked what it was that public servants did to deserve such treatment.
“We looking at year-end for this money and now nothing and we suppose to have a Merry Christmas?” one public servant asked.
Westford said the union and government had been negotiating for sometime now, as they had in the past hoping to find a solution, but the discussions will have to continue in the new year. She said that if the GPSU was not fighting as hard as it was for salary increases, and more recently the year-end payouts, “it would not have been worth its salt”.
She asked the audience to look around and see what was happening globally with jobs, noting that the government has not cut any jobs since the economic crisis. She said the administration has also not cut salaries.
“Public servants need to be aware of what is happening financially in the country so that when the year-end payout is no longer in sight they can draw logical conclusions,” she added.
Further, she said that there is need for public servants to access more training and for persons within the system to look past staying at one level. According to her, some people join the job at the bottom and that is exactly where they are after some 20 years.
“People cannot expect things to happen for them if they are not improving, and we have people within the system who intend to stay in temporary positions all their life, which means that they will leave the service without getting any benefits.”
Several issues were raised and discussed at the meeting, and among them were improved working conditions and increasing productivity.
