Georgetown: Negotiation between government and the public service union are still ongoing, but government has made its position clear that there will not be across-the-board salary increases for public servants.Finance Minister Winston Jordan made this position when he spoke with the Government Information Agency (GINA) recently.
“The union asked for across-the-board (increases); we said we are not going down that road,” Minister Jordan said.
Jordan believes an across-the-board increase would widen the salary gap among groups in the public sector.
The finance minister believes a differentiated increase in salaries is the best approach.
Salaries form part of the negotiations between government and the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) which began late last June.
“We have also offered to look at the allowances as soon as we are finished with the salary negotiations. We have already named our members for the allowances’ committee, we have also offered to look at merit increment,” Jordan told the GINA.
These negotiations are the first of its kind for the David Granger administration which entered government mid-May 2015.
Turning his attention to salaries in the private sector, Jordan believes it is time for a revision of that sector’s minimum wage.
Some three years ago, the private sector minimum wage was set at $35,000. That measure was geared towards ensuring private sector employees were guaranteed protection from exploitation.
Private sector salaries have, for the most part, been pegged against those in the public sector, which stands at a $50,000 minimum.
Jordan was however cautious in his pronouncements as he noted the domino effect of salary increases on the country’s economic system.
“Policy makers have to be wary of what it (salary increases) would do to the broader macro-economic fundaments of the country… and its impact on inflation and exchange rate deterioration,” the Finance Minister cautioned.
If not controlled against other elements of the economy, Jordan said this could “retard growth” which would negatively impact citizen welfare.
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