Latest update March 29th, 2024 12:59 AM
Dec 23, 2013 News
A partnership of National Unity (APNU) Chairman and Shadow Minister of Labour Basil Williams has advised that the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) has legal grounds on which to seek recourse over the five per cent increase that was arbitrarily imposed on Public Servants by government.
He however posited that taking legal action is not the problem but to whom should legal action be taken, since according to Williams, there is no Industrial Court like those in other Caribbean countries where Union Matters can be addressed. Williams expressed that an Industrial Court would be imperative to address union matters, since those matters would not be bogged down with general matters in the Court system, as well as be encumbered by the sloth which is attached to the judicial system.
Williams further elaborated that the Public Service Appellate tribunal which was established for some time has become dormant over the years. “We have been calling for them to reconstitute that body so that appeals by Public Servants can be fast tracked to that body instead of the court system.”
According to Williams, the government is bound to honour the Collective Bargaining Agreement between themselves and the union, but for 13 years they (government) “has been observing that agreement in breach.”
Williams stated that “recourse could be had for breach of certain terms and conditions like that provided that the agreement makes conditions for that of course.”
According to Williams, the five percent wage increase that the government has been imposing since 2000, has essentially kept the Public Servants on the bread line. “A living wage, the PSU has determined, should be around $124,000 dollars. We are nowhere close to that. The Public Servants have the right; the nurses, the teachers, the policemen, prison offers, firemen, they have a right to a decent life.”
The Shadow Minister of Labour expressed that under the present system, the expectations of workers and young people are abysmal. He said “they can’t expect to have a motorbike, a small car, go on a vacation or pursue a higher education. We have to do something for our young people and something for the workers as well.”
APNU Leader David Granger expressed that “If we are invited by the Union and the conditions are right we will join the workers in the protest. We have had meetings with the GTUC executives and we were informed that there are no strikes yet, just protest action on the streets but we are in full support”.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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