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M&CC challenged to find revenue to pay workers – City Mayor

Nov 28, 2008 News

Even as the arbitration process into the wage negotiations between the Guyana Labour Union (GLU) and Mayor and City Council (M&CC) of Georgetown continues, City Mayor Hamilton Green is adamant that the council might only be able to pay the initial 10 per cent increase it had offered to the GLU.

In its effort to negotiate for wages for the more than 60 per cent of the municipal workers that it represents, the GLU through its General Secretary Carvil Duncan had requested that a 10 per cent increase be made available for 2008 and another for 2007 since workers had not received an increase for last year.

The 10 per cent increase for both years was however rejected by the municipality which insisted that 10 per cent was all it could offer to the workers.

Negotiations between the two entities broke down a few months ago causing Minister of Labour Manzoor Nadir to intervene in the matter by recommending that the matter be addressed through compulsory arbitration.

As such Mayor Green pointed out yesterday that the council will be subjected to meet the final recommendations of the panel of arbitrators who have engaged the matter in earnest even if the increase is implemented overtime.

“We have presented our case and we can offer the 10 per cent we offered before to the union for this year. But the question is where will the money come from?”

Mayor Green related that the council is very much aware that it is obligated to meet whatever percentage of increase is approved in the interest of the wellbeing of the workers who represent the core of the municipal operation.

He divulged that the council has been making substantial headway in its rates and taxes collection, a process which was intensified recently.

The Mayor related that a significant amount of residents have been opting to obligate their civic duty which has been boosting the council’s revenue base.

It is believed that this development has its roots in the attempts by the council to engage additional measures to boost its revenue base in order to fulfil its mandate to the city.

Mayor Green recently revealed that the council had taken a decision through its finance committee to operate with a degree of flexibility to raise revenues by granting certain concessions to tax payers.

Among this he said was to waive certain aspects of the interest residents owe all with the intention of garnering as much outstanding taxes as possible.

Nonetheless, he opined that there still remain a notable percentage of residents, who continue to renege thus forcing the council to take several of them before the court which according to him is infamous for its slothfulness.

It was for this reason Mayor Green related that the municipality had some years ago proposed the implementation of a mechanism where it could sequester properties from defaulting tax payers.

But according to the Mayor implementing such a measure has been hindered to some extent thus the municipality is still seeking ways in which it could increase it revenue.

As such he noted that the municipality has been waiting for quite some time for the Valuation department to join its efforts so that properties in the city could be properly appraised.

However the Mayor is optimistic that once the revenue keeps coming in as anticipated the workers will be paid their salaries in a more prompt fashion even as he added that every effort will be made to ensure that workers received their Christmas earnings.

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