Stabroek Business has been reliably informed that government has now agreed to commence negotiations with the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) though, according to the source, no date has as yet been fixed for the negotiation. However, this newspaper’s source has learnt that the APNU+AFC administration has now set aside its earlier position that the talks would take place only after the Lutchman Commission of Enquiry into the Public Service had submitted its report to President David Granger.
The source told Stabroek Business that the President had communicated personally with GPSU President Patrick Yarde to the effect that the talks could commence but not conclude before government receives the report.
The start of wages and salaries negotiations between government and the GPSU will break the mould of years of arbitrary departure from the negotiating process characterized by annual handouts, the equivalent of 5% increases in public servants’ pay.
