Public Service Union urges new Govt. to keep promise to restart engagements

Jun 11, 2015 News

One of the country’s oldest negotiating bodies, the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), says it welcomes the promises from the new Government to restart engagements.

President David Granger addressing GPSU members over the weekend.

GPSU, which celebrated its 92nd anniversary on Monday, has been hosting a number of activities for the occasion.
According to the President, Patrick Yarde, the recent General Elections on May 11th facilitated a free and fair process for a change of government.
“The GPSU officially observed the election and concluded that it was free and fair. This change of government has been generally welcomed nationally. The union has written to President (David) Granger congratulating him on his election as President noting his expressed recognition and respect for trade union rights, his public commitment to engage with the union in a fair and lawful manner, his preparedness to restore a working and objective relationship with the GPSU and his aspiration to pursue inclusivity in the national interest.”
GPSU said it is committed to embracing and working with this newly elected Government of Guyana towards shared goals and ideals, restoring good governance and trade union rights “which we are confident will result in an environment which is most receptive of national unity, harmonious relationships and the utilization of the energies of the people positively for the development of Guyana.”
GPSU was established as a trade union on June 8th, 1923.
According to Yarde, from its inception, the founding fathers embarked on the mission to secure the establishment of a professional and career-oriented public service.
“A motivated work force insulated from any discrimination and prejudice that enjoys security of tenure, that is efficient and that would faithfully and effectively serve the government of Guyana to the best of its abilities in a lawful manner consistent with their policies to achieve their set goals and objectives. It was the desired expectation that career development was guaranteed premised on good performance and that natural justice and due process would be adhered to should this be necessary.”
Over time, the Trade Unionist said, the leadership of the union worked assiduously to achieve the goals mandated by its existing constitutional fora and most were achieved by agreements entered into.
These include the avoidance and settlement of dispute agreement; check off of union dues and agency fees; duty-free concessions for motor vehicles; tax free vacation allowance and housing schemes for public servants.
“The achievements though significantly noticeable were not without challenges but indeed contributed substantially to the desired goals. A major and persistent shortcoming was the issue of a living wage and meaningful negotiations generally to correct this situation. Then in 1992 there was a change in political party in government.”
Yarde said that notwithstanding the GPSU directive to its membership to respect the democratic process and to serve faithfully the government of the day, the PPP/C government pursued an unwarranted onslaught on public servants and executed a barrage of anti-trade union attacks acting in conflict with legally binding agreements between the Union and Government.
“The most noticeable was the 1999 Memorandum of Agreement between Government and Union for arbitration after which most of the resulting awards were ignored followed by subsequent impositions of wages, salaries, allowances and conditions of service which were deplorable and this continued for 14 consecutive years.”
He noted that there was the widespread irregular recruitment of contract employees to permanent, pensionable public service positions and the termination of workers trade union rights, among many other undesirable actions.
“This environment of executive lawlessness, mistrust and lack of confidence overwhelmingly prevailed for more than two decades.”
Included in the anniversary celebration was an address to some members by President Granger and a church service.