GPSU rejects govt’s imposed wage hikes

-increases range from 0.5% to 7%

The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) yesterday condemned and rejected Govern-ment’s unilateral  increases of wages and salaries for public servants for 2018 which was revealed in a Ministry of Finance circular to All Heads of Budget Agencies. 

“The union strongly condemns the increase and the imposition,”  first vice president Dawn Gardener said. 

Gardener told Stabroek News that the GPSU was informed of the increase by way of the media and held an emergency meeting of the union’s executive members to respond to the information.

“We had no official communication on this matter with the government,” she said.

The GPSU was in the process of sending correspondence to the Ministry of the Presidency on the issue which, she said, goes against the principles of collective bargaining.

Even though the GPSU has communicated with Government its need to put in place a mechanism so that they could meet to discuss the issue of salary increases and other issues facing public servants, Gardener said, this has not been done.

Because the Department of the Public Service has no permanent secretary and their collective bargaining agreement provides for negotiations with the permanent secretary, she said, the GPSU wrote to President David Granger informing him of the importance of having a permanent secretary to deal with the issue of collective bargaining.

A copy of the circular dated November 19 and sent by the Finance Secretary to the budget agencies said that Government “approved an increase for all public servants whose wages and salaries fall within the ranges herein stated as at December 31, 2017, with effect from January 1, 2018.”

The increases ranged from 0 .5% cent for the highest scale, that is $1 million and above, to seven per cent on the lowest scale, that is up to $100,000. The 6.5% increase is for salaries ranging from $100,000 to $299,999; the 5% per cent increase is for $300,000 to $499,999; the 3% is for $500,000 to $699,999; the 2% is for $700,999 to $799,999, and the 1% is for $800,000 to $999,999.

These increases, the circular said, are payable to workers who are employed as at the November 2018 payroll and are applicable to all traditional public servants. It does not include teachers, employees at the University of Guyana, ministers and other members of parliament.

Meanwhile, President of the Guyana Trades Union Congress, Lincoln Lewis told Stabroek News that the APNU+AFC coalition on the campaign trail had committed to labour that once elected to office they would respect the collective bargaining process.

Once elected to office, he said, “They have refused to honour their commitment to labour.”

He said, “It has reached the point where the trade unions will have to determine what course of action they will take to bring Government back to the bargaining table.”

To give increases without engaging the unions, Lewis said, is disrespect.

This year, in the case of the Guyana Teachers’ Union, he said, while pursuing their rights to collective bargaining, government took a position to undermine the union.

In as much as teachers and public servants took strike action in 1999 to resolve their issues, Lewis said, there was still some level of civility as the government of the day and the unions moved the process to arbitration.

On the arbitrary imposition on increases in wages and salaries, Lewis said, “We have made our position very clear that is against the principle of a collective bargaining and we shall not be moved.”   

This is the fourth year under the present government that unilateral increases have been announced for public servants. This had also been the practice under the PPP/C government.