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Chicken chowmein and fried rice gone up!

Feb 12, 2016 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The price of chicken chowmein and chicken fried rice at the Chinese restaurants in the country increased since last December. For those who are wondering about the relevance of these increases, they need to understand that the best measure of an increase in the cost of living is to look at the price of food at Chinese restaurants.
If the prices increase, it means that the cost of living is increasing. One thing about Chinese eating houses: they give their customers a fair deal. They do not increase prices unless the prices in the economy are increasing.
The price of either the inputs or the price levels in the economy had to have increased for the restaurants to have increased their prices. Yet we are being told that there is deflation in the economy driven by a reduction in food prices. What food prices?
The Budget debate has so far avoided the issue of inflation. The opposition has not touched this issue. Even the government, which was expected to be jumping over the moon in joy over the fact that for the first time in modern Guyanese history there has been deflation, has not highlighted this issue in the debates.
The Guyana Public Service Union has not said anything about the deflation, even though it has implications for their wage negotiations. If there is no inflation, then the government does not, in its negotiations, have to make any offer that compensates for inflation.
Yet the average worker will tell you that the cost of the same basket of goods that they used to purchase each week or month has increased. It has not decreased.
Ask the average housewife and she will tell you that the price level in the economy has not declined. Are these people wrong? Well, they can be wrong, because there is a particular basket of goods by which the Statistical Bureau tabulates the consumer price index. The only thing is that they are not publishing this basket so that the average consumer that determine for himself or herself whether indeed there has been a decline in overall prices in the market.
There is a Commission of Inquiry looking into wage increases for public servants. By the way, just what is happening with that COI? It seems to have dropped off the radar. Are public hearings over? When will the report be submitted?
The COI has nothing to do with negotiations with the unions. This COI will influence the government’s position on wages policy. It should, however, not stall negotiations with the unions.
The GPSU still has to put a figure on the table. About eight years ago they asked the PPPC government for a minimum wage of $80,000 per month. Given inflation over the years that figure should probably be about $120,000 per month. It is left to be seen whether they will be asking for anything near what they had asked the PPPC government for. It is left to be seen what amounts they will ask for.
Perhaps if they wait for another ten years to press for their demands, they need not ask for any increase at all. If deflation continues for the next ten years, then the purchasing power of the present wages in ten years will be higher than it was when Burnham asked a May Day rally whether they wanted hydro or $14 per day as a minimum wage.
The pro-PNC workers shouted “hydro!” They thought Burnham meant hydroelectricity. They did not know he meant hydrocele.

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