GPSU executives openly support David Granger

Oct 01, 2011 News

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The Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) executives seem to have thrown their support behind David Granger, the presidential candidate of the broad opposition coalition looking to unseat the incumbent People’s Progressive Party (PPP) at this year’s general elections.
The Union has been openly critical of the current government over the years, with the deepest grouse being the fact that salary increases for public servants have been imposed over the past five years.
The General Secretary, GPSU, Deborah Murphy, acknowledged the Presidential Candidate of the political coalition, A Partnership for National Unity as “our David Granger”.
However, when referring to the current Administration, she simply referred to it as ‘the government’.
She deemed ‘the government’ uncaring to public servants’ rights and working conditions.
Her remarks came at the opening ceremony of the Union’s nineteenth Biennial Delegates’ Conference held at the National Cultural Centre on Wednesday.
Her sentiments seemed to reflect the positions of the other members who openly heckled Prime Minister, Samuel Hinds when he addressed the conference and openly objected when he asked for their support at the upcoming national elections.
In addition, disapprovals erupted when the Prime Minister identified the discipline of spending money and increasing productivity as the answers to some of the woes public servants face.
According to Patrick Yarde, President of the Union, the conference theme “Working together, fighting as one for sustainable workers’ rights” must be heeded. He urged that it is time for members to be sensitized and mobilized to demand fair and equitable treatment.
He emphasised that the GPSU has had to defend its stance and keep hope alive in a hostile environment characterized by vicious and unwarranted onslaughts on workers and their recognized bargaining unit, disregard for the rule of law and ILO Conventions and practices, and the absence of due process and gross abuse.
The GPSU president said that Guyana’s landscape has been overrun by corruption, greed, selfishness and injustice. These, he noted, have now taken precedence over fundamental issues like justice, fairness, equity, kindness, and respect.
He reminded the government that public servants play an important role in Guyana’s development. They are the human resources of this country, an asset that is needed to be nurtured so they can be efficient, effective, and productive, Yarde noted.
Yarde asserted that it is not unreasonable for the Union to demand for public servants to be equitably and fairly rewarded for their sterling and continuous contribution.
He said that from 2006 to 2010, the minimum wage for public servants rose by 27.4 percent. During that same period, the accumulated inflation was 32.4 percent. “So, we have the ridiculous situation of an insufficient minimum wage being systematically eroded by inflation to such an extent that the worker is substantially worse off in 2010 than in 2006,” Yarde stressed.
He suggested that the answer to an improved industrial relations climate must lie within an enhanced framework for social dialogue encompassing good communication based on mutual respect for each other, respect for international labour conventions, local news and contractual agreements and the sanctity of the collective bargaining process.
Yarde called for Government to understand the plight of public servants, the employed poor. He added that Government should pay a decent wage, improve working conditions, improve and safeguard workers’ retirement benefits.
He posed several questions to the Government seeking answers and actions. They included the non-functionality of the Public Service Appellate Tribunal; the Union’s non-representation on the Public Service Commission; superannuation benefits not being paid some semi-autonomous agencies; and the public servant slave wage.
However, defending alleged mistreatment of public servants by Government, Dr. Nanda Gopaul, Permanent Secretary, Office Of the President, utilizing data from 1998 to 2010 stated that in 1998 the minimum wage was $11,445 while in 2010 the minimum wage had increased to $37,903.
This, he explained, was an increase of 231 percent. Correspondingly, the inflation rate had risen by 80 percent.
Dr. Gopaul boasted that there was protection of wages and improvement in real terms.
He pointed out that over that same period 5,000 workers were became permanent staff. In addition, nearly 9,000 workers are benefiting from one-month tax free salary for vacation travel allowance.
Dr. Gopaul added that there are currently 12,097 positions in the public service that attract duty free concessions for every three year. However, this point enraged some members of the audience as they grumbled only a few enjoy that and not the masses.
He also emphasised that the working conditions of employees have improved with the refurbishment of public buildings interior and exterior. The installation of air conditioners, computers, and comfortable furnishings were some of the improvements listed.

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