Latest update May 13th, 2024 12:59 AM
Oct 10, 2016 News
– Lincoln Lewis
Guyana Trade Union Congress Chairman Lincoln Lewis has taken umbrage of Finance Minister Winston Jordan’s comments that the proposed increase to public servants is what government can afford.
He’s also not enamoured by Business Minister Dominic Gaskin’s statement that the increase would be good for improving spending power.
Describing the comments as being out of order, Lewis told Kaieteur News that it is unprincipled for the employer (the government) to comment about on-going wage negotiations.
The GTUC General-Secretary who has been a trade unionist for over 30 years said that the statements have the effect of interfering in the affairs of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) which is headed by Patrick Yarde.
Further, Lewis said that the move by Government to go ahead and pay out the increase is against protocols.
“The government has no right to break off negotiations and pay an increase.” He said that such a move can be considered as an act of bad faith.
According to Lewis, based on the rules which govern such negotiations, if an increase is to be paid before an official agreement is reached, both parties must agree to an interim pay out; and that has not happened.
Weighing in on the comments made by President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Vishnu Doerga, Lewis said, “The President of GCCI is out of his depth. He does not understand industrial relations.”
The General-Secretary said that no organisation has the right to determine what is appropriate for the public servants.
Based on all the public statements being made, Lewis agrees that the GPSU did the right thing to apply for conciliation.
The Union entered into conciliation describing negotiations as reaching a deadlock due to there being several outstanding issues to be addressed by the Government’s negotiation team headed by Reginald Brotherson Permanent Secretary, Department of Public Service. The outstanding issues are associated with public servants’ emoluments including de-bunching, increments and allowances.
The GPSU had communicated to the media that there seems to be seeming insensitivity and absence of a sense of urgency on the part of the employer to deal with the matters.
Minister Jordan was reported in a previous article as saying that Government has to make increases that can be sustained. According to Jordan, he believes that the current 10 per cent offer on the table is the embodiment of that principle.
Jordan took the position that citizens must understand that every increase that Government makes is one that has to be seen as not only being paid for today but for the years to come.
He suggested that sustainable payments which have implications for pensions and so forth have to come from growth in revenues.
Business Minister Dominic Gaskin had said that he believes the 10 per cent increase will improve the spending power of public servants since it is 10 per cent more money at their disposal.
Gaskin said that the proposed increase by Government can be considered as liveable depending on how public servants choose to live.
He said that when compared to a lot of countries, Guyanese earn considerably more than other developing countries. However, he did make it clear that it still doesn’t mean the increase is sufficient.
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