The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) has not made a request to have the Ministry of Social Protection conciliate its present dispute over public servant wages and salaries with the government.
Though the GPSU has officially rejected the government’s “final offer” of a 10% to 1% differentiated increase to public servants, it has made no attempt to activate the stages of the grievance process as detailed in the Memorandum of Agreement for the Avoidance and Settlement of Disputes.
The Memorandum specifically states that if the union and ministry, represented by its Permanent Secretary, are unable to settle any grievances the process shall proceed to the fifth stage of the grievance process, where either party within 14 days refers the matter to the Ministry of Labour for conciliation, failing which the process proceeds to compulsory arbitration.
Even though the government has indicated that it will be paying public servants the increases in their October salaries, the union has made no move beyond agreeing to continue negotiations on non-salary issues.
In an invited comment yesterday, acting General Secretary of the union Kemton Alexander told Stabroek News that the union has not decided on its next step.
“The General Council has directed the negotiating team to engage the government through all the stages of the dispute settlement process but we are still deciding how we are going to approach it—whether through a request for conciliation or arbitration. For now, we are returning to the negotiating table to address the issue of allowances,” Alexander said.
Permanent Secretary of the Public Service Department Reginald Brotherson had told Stabroek News on Tuesday that based on a directive received, his department will be authorising for October the payment of the government’s final offer retroactive to January 2016.
“This payment will be made without prejudice to whatever steps the union next chooses to take,” Brotherson said.
This statement was made on the same day Brotherson received a letter from the union in which he was informed of the GPSU General Council’s unanimous decision to reject the government’s offer.
