The Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) is suggesting that the Commis-sion of Inquiry (CoI) into the public service encourage the government to begin negotiating wage increases using recent ministerial increases as a “barometer” for determining public sector pay packages.
As part of his nearly one-hour presentation on Thursday, General Secretary of the GTUC Lincoln Lewis noted that while the terms of reference of the CoI refers to wages and salaries, the commission needs to respect fundamental rights and freedoms. He explained that the rights afforded to workers under Article 147 of the Guyana Constitution and International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 98 call for wages and salary to be fixed through collective bargaining.
Therefore, on behalf of the GTUC, he suggested “that the commission recommends that the process of collective bargaining commence, and the recent increase to government ministers and parliamentarians be used as the barometer in arriving at a
