Public servants take protest to Public Service Ministry

Dec 08, 2013 News

Members from the Guyana Public Service Union (GSPU) and other supporters were on Friday continuing their protest over the five percent increase that was touted by the Government. The public servants and their Unions have been complaining and protesting that the increase is too small to help offset the high cost of living.

Some of the protesters across the road from Public Service Ministry.

The protest continued in front of the Public Service Ministry at noon, on Friday, and lasted for one hour approximately.
Some of the placards addressing Public Service Minister Jennifer Westford read “Public Servants are not Christmas Ponies, Jenny.”
Friday’s protest came in the wake of Minister Jennifer Westford stating that workers should be happy with their five percent increase. Westford had said that workers need to understand that Government is proposing what it can afford.
She added that the workers should be happy because Guyana is one of the few countries in the world that has been offering any salary increases to its public servants.
She said that Government has been consistently giving its public servants increases on an annual basis.
Some of the other placards that the protesters used read “Budget does not cater for decent work, it caters for slavery,” “5% total eye pass to public servants,” “29 Billion for wages and salaries plus 4 Billion for revision of wages and salaries is equal to 15 percent increase, what happen to the 10 percent more?” and “5% is equal to further starvation Ashni” among others were hoisted by the protesters to get their messages across.
The protesters identified themselves as “peaceful pickets” and they were.
And even though the protesters were quietly protesting the five percent increase, two police officers wearing bullet proof vests were apparently summoned to the scene to “monitor” the protest.
According to one of the protesters present, “The reason why we are out here is to inform the government that the money was approved in Parliament to pay the public servants 15 percent. We know the money is there and we demand the government pay the public servants the money that was budgeted.”
A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) leader, David Granger, said, “We have stated clearly that the five percent is inadequate but in keeping with our principles we do not interfere in the negotiation process between the employer and the union, in this case the GPSU.
“We have called on the government to respect the collective bargaining agreement and to ensure that the negotiations to the union are conducted in good faith this has not happened…We support the Union and its demand for a return to the table for a collective bargaining agreement and for the Government to consider the Union demands.”
According to Granger, APNU is prepared to accept the outcome of this process but currently feel it’s unfair both on the amount and on the process.
APNU shadow Minister of Finance, Carl Greenidge, also speaking on the five per cent increase mentioned that the government is committed to having collective bargaining agreements and having those collective bargaining agreements lead to the wage adjustments that are supposed to follow.
However throughout its 21 years of bargaining with Unions only on two occasions was any agreement negotiated with government. “This, like the exercise in budgeting for government, is an exercise in window dressing and fooling the public. You cannot be saying that you have discussions that should take place between five or six unions over 21 years and over the 21 years only on two occasions in all of that time you can conclude negotiations.