Georgetown : The threat issued by the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) to government to resume wage negotiations or face the consequences, was not unexpected, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr. Roger Luncheon disclosed.
The GPSU issued an ultimatum to government to “resume wage negotiations or else” on December 2. The union’s President, Patrick Yarde issued his statement following government’s announcement of 8% for public servants below $50,000 and 5% for those earning over $50,000, retroactive to January 2014.
Reacting to the GPSU’s statement, Dr. Luncheon, speaking at his post-Cabinet media briefing at the Office, said there is an ongoing engagement between the Public Service Ministry officials, headed by Minister Dr. Jennifer Westford and Guyana Labour Union and the GPSU. He added that this will continue, “and I believe in a genuine way try to examine what are the options to what has happened now”, even as he noted that this is the fourteenth year that the GPSU head has made similar claims.
The alternative to negotiating a joint agreement, Dr Luncheon explained, is that the earlier it starts; the likelihood is enhanced that before Christmas it would be achieved. He added that in many other places, increases are granted at the beginning of the year. He further described the negotiations as an “unavailing process” as they were nowhere near an agreement that “both sides enjoy” or support. It is this fact that has caused negotiations to exist in limbo, he added.
The alternatives resorted to by government have a lot to do with consequences and timing, according to Dr. Luncheon.
“Were we to follow faithfully the script of failed negotiations when the agreement cannot be reached, then I would say you’d have a Christmas without your 5%”.
The demands of the trade union which countered that the government’s budgeted amount is in the high double digit figures and this is a recipe for “gridlock”, Dr. Luncheon said, hence a mechanism in the agreement to resolve such.
He further said that the 20,000 workers, who will benefit from the increase, will not be disadvantaged in spite of the state of any negotiations with trade unions. “They’re members of the union, but to us, even more importantly, they are employees of the government”.
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